To the Moon and Back
by Callista Rose
Summary: Faced with the aftermath of the Final Battle, Hermione flees England to start a new life in Muggle America. But when her two children turn 11, she realizes that avoiding the wizarding world will be more of a challenge than she thought. HHr, kidfic
1. The Beginning

DISCLAIMER: I'm only gonna say this one time: I don't own anything that you recognize from JKR's books. No exceptions.

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 1: Prologue

* * *

"Hermione, run!"

"No way, Harry, I'm not leaving you!"

"Ron and I can handle it; you need to get yourself OUT," Harry bellowed, straining to keep the jet of light flowing from his wand that Hermione knew was keeping the door from bursting open.

"Please, Hermione, run as far away as you can and hide somewhere, anywhere. We'll find you by owl when this is over, please go," Ron half-pleaded to Hermione. Hermione was torn. She couldn't leave, but she knew that the two of them would never let her stay with them.

"I can't—" she started, eyes filling with tears, but Harry cut her off. Ron was helping him now, straining to keep the door shut, but a bellowing from the other side told them that it wouldn't hold out for much longer.

"You can, and you will," he said firmly. "Please, Hermione, do this for us. Please." There was a look of pleading and fright in his emerald eyes that she knew she would remember for long after the night was over. She had no choice. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she dashed forward, throwing her arms around both boys in one last, comforting embrace.

She would have like to have said something to them, to offer words of solace and comfort, to inspire bravery or strength or anything, but she couldn't speak. With one last tearful glance at her best friends, sweaty-faced and about to undertake the most dangerous challenge that the three of them had ever surmounted—but to do it without her—she turned on her heel and ran.

Hermione ran furiously, blood pounding in her ears, unable to hear the shouts of horror and pain issuing from the room that now seemed far, far away. She flew out of the back door and through the hedges and brambles that marked the end of the backyard of number 12, Grimmauld Place, kicking and fighting her way through. Her heart was pounding now, her chest and side aching, but she couldn't stop running, couldn't stop the tears that were running down her cheeks and fluttering away with the wind.

She ran for what seemed like hours. Dazed, confused, and terrified for the safety of her two best friends, she suddenly became aware that she was on a mountainside, tripping over rocks that jutted out of the ground but recovering her steps every time. Looking around, her eyes clouded, she saw a crack in the rock wall. She slipped through it and whispered, "Lumos"

It was a tiny, dark and dry cave that would do well to hide her until—she swallowed, hard. Harry and Ron had promised to come and fetch her, to find her and bring her back. She curled up in a ball in the far corner and cried, her very bones wracked with grief, drifting in and out of sleep so that she knew not if it was day or night. Waiting.

Waiting.

But they never came back.

And so she knew that she had to leave the horrors of her life behind.

* * *

Okay, that was a painfully short chapter for me to write (and believe me, I hate short chapters), but it was quite necessary to introduce the background of the story. The second chapter will be up shortly!

In the meantime…

Please review! Tell me what you think of it so far.

Thanks!

Callista Rose


	2. Eleven Summers

Special thanks to my reviewer! You rock, chica!

Okay, so on with the story...I promise that this is a much longer chapter, and there's a plot that forms...

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 2

* * *

"So what do you recommend for this case?" asked a tall, Asian young man in a short white coat, holding a pen and clipboard at the ready. He looked at his teacher for advice: a pretty woman with sparkling brown eyes and very thick, wavy brown hair that was pulled out of her face in a clip for the moment.

"Step number one, Mr. Chen," Hermione Granger responded, picking up her stethoscope and slinging it around her neck. "This is our _patient_. He is a child with a family and a story, not simply an object of study." She paused and he looked at her expectantly, tapping his foot impatiently. "A little bit of gentimycin and bactroban ointment should clear up the impetigo within the week." Just then a plump nurse with shiny blond hair pulled into a bun called to her from the nurse's station.

"Dr. Granger, it's 3:10. You told me to remind you—" she was cut off by Hermione wincing as if she had sustained a blow to the abdomen.

"Crap, I forgot," she groaned. She dashed behind the desk and retrieved her purse, hastily signing out before turning to dash out the door.

"But what--?"

"I'm late! I need to pick up my kids at camp this afternoon." She dashed toward the car in the parking lot of the pediatric care office where she now worked as a muggle pediatrician. Hurriedly starting the car, she tore off her long, white coat and tossed it into the back seat before fastening her seatbelt and pulling out of the parking space.

She loved her job at the office, and though she missed many aspects of the world she had left behind, especially her best friends through school, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, she had grown to love her life here in the suburbs of muggle Boston, Massachusetts. She loved her house, her job, and especially her children. Hermione smiled at that memory.

She found out that she was pregnant with them shortly after she had come to Boston. She couldn't figure out at first how the pregnancy had happened; it was the last thing in the world that she had expected to happen to her. _But duh, _she thought to herself, _of course you know how it happened; you were definitely there for the event_.

It had been a fit of passion, a night of fear and of love; it had happened on the night before the final battle. The event in itself was a blur to her, a whirl of love and passion and desperation to hold on to each other for as long as they could. And in the end, two babies had been conceived.

When Harry didn't come back for her, she had gathered all of her money from Gringotts, packed a suitcase and caught the first flight to the United States, which happened to be destined for Boston. It was there that she'd given birth to beautiful, healthy twins; James Harry was born first, at 7 lbs even and Lily Anne was second at 6lbs, 14 ounces. Two healthy, vivacious children with cries to rival a mandrake.

Hermione began school again, achieving a University degree independent-study, then on a whim enrolling in medical school. After her four years of schooling was up and the twins no longer demanded quite so much of her time, she had found a nice place to build a new life. Lily and James grew up there in muggle school, not knowing anything about the magical world at all. Hermione had done this on purpose, not because she wanted to keep it from them, but because she wanted them to grow up as normally as possible. They would undoubtedly be receiving their acceptance letters into Hogwarts on their eleventh birthdays, which happened to be the very next day, and Hermione knew that she would have to tell them everything when the time came.

For now, though, she concentrated on the present as she pulled into the parking lot of the camp and parked the car. She made her way into the cool, air-conditioned reception hall of the camp mess hall and pulled off her sunglasses, eyes sweeping the room that was bustling with color and activity for a hint of her own kids. Then, out of nowhere, she was bombarded by what looked like two colorful, backpack-wearing and beaming 10-year-olds, both jumping up and down with excitement.

"Mom!" Lily squealed, hurling herself into Hermione's arms and nearly knocking off her own glasses in the process. Her thick, wavy chestnut hair flew behind her as she ran into her mother. Hermione held out her other arm so that she could hug her son James, a boy with untidy chestnut-brown hair and warm brown eyes.

"Hey, Mum," he said, hugging her back. They collected their duffel bags and dragged them out to the car, hoisting them into the trunk.

"How was it?" Hermione asked, adjusting the rearview mirror so that she could see Lily more clearly in the back seat (James sat in the front today). She pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive back to their house.

"Excellent!" they both exclaimed at once, beaming. And they began rambling on about the camp activities and events.

"But one of those things happened again, Mum," James said, suddenly looking slightly perplexed. Hermione looked up, frowning. By 'one of those things,' she knew that he meant accidental magic.

"What sort of thing?" she asked with interest, pulling into the driveway of their house.

"It was weird," Lily said, exchanging a look with her twin. "Like we made it happen, like the other things, but James didn't actually _do_ anything at all."

"One of the boys, David Prochnow, was making fun of Lily's glasses," James explained, frowning slightly. "And I grabbed Lily's arm and started to drag her away, but then everyone was laughing, and we turned around and saw that his two front teeth were growing really fast, and they stopped when they got to his chin."

Hermione helped the two of them get their bags into the house, somewhat amused. She had, of course, not forgotten the time in the fourth year that the same thing had happened to her. Appalled, she turned to face the two of them.

"But what happened to him? Was he okay?" Lily shrugged.

"Of course he was, but he had to leave early to go to see a doctor to have his teeth shrunk again. Everybody looked very, very confused, but at least the other kids didn't think it was us." Hermione nodded, slowly.

"Okay, well I'm glad that there was no permanent damage. At least his teeth didn't keep growing."

"What, Mom?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, then, noting their sidelong glances at each other, added, "You two had better go and unpack your things. And I want you both to bathe before dinner tonight, and put something nice on," she called as they retreated up the stairs. Shaking her head, and with a slight grin on her face, she fixed herself a cup of tea and took a seat at the wooden kitchen table and began to read the _Boston Globe_.

Half an hour later, James knelt on the floor of his room, still removing the contents of his bright red duffel bag when he heard a knock on his door. _Rat-a-tat-tat_: Lily's knock, he knew. His mother's was three quick raps on the wood.

"Come on in, Lil," he called, not getting up off of the floor. Lily opened the door. She was already dressed for the evening in a pink skirt and white spaghetti strap shirt, and her wet hair hung flat down her back.

"Hey," she greeted him, entering the room and sitting Indian-style on his bed.

"Oh, good," he said, throwing a dirty pair of jeans into his hamper. "I can take my shower now, then." He turned and glanced at the look on his sister's face, which was one of mixed concern and perplexion. "What's up?" She was silent for a moment.

"Do you think that something's up with Mom?" she asked him, her brow furrowing. James shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed and turning to face her.

"I dunno."

"It's just—it's just that she's been acting kind of funny. I mean,I think that most parents would freak if, say, you suddenly wound up at the top of a tree without knowing how you got there, or mysteriously caused another kid to have boils pop up on every inch of his skin, or make another kid's teeth to grow a foot out of his mouth. All of those things and more, and we didn't even get scolded, and you know how strict Mom can be about behavior." James nodded. Their mother _was_ strict about their schoolwork, chores, and behavior. They were rarely punished, but Hermione had one mean guilt-invoking stare.

"I don't know, Lily," James told her honestly.

"It almost seems as if she—"

"—Knows something that we don't." Lily nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, I know it sounds silly, but maybe there's something wrong with us. Maybe we have a psychological disease!" she exclaimed, suddenly looking terrified. James rolled his eyes. Leave it to Lily to turn any problem into something medical; she loved anything to do with the subject and was eager to become a doctor when she got out of school.

"I seriously doubt it," he told her more confidently than he felt. "Mom would've taken us to a shrink or something by now. Actually," he said, frowning, "she would have done _something_." They both stared at each other, thinking for a moment. Then Lily started to get up and shrugged, as if hoping that the worry she had would fall off of her shoulders if she did.

"We can talk to her about it sometime," she said. "But not tonight or tomorrow, with the birthday stuff going on." She suddenly beamed. "We're gonna be 11!"

"Yep," he said, smiling as well. "Hey, why did Mom say that we're going out for our birthday dinner tonight? Don't we always have the dinner on our actual birthday?" Lily shrugged again.

"I dunno," she said, "but she said something about having something else planned for us tomorrow." Exchanging looks, James grabbed the khakis and bright red polo shirt he would be wearing that night and headed for the shower; Lily left her brother's room for her own neat, orderly bedroom, which had a bright yellow duffel bag sitting open on the bed. She sighed as she sat down and began to unpack her things.

Dinner that night was a fun affair out at a local restaurant in town. It was a celebration of the children's birthdays, and an evening of great food and lots of laughter. Halfway through large bowls of delectable chocolate mousse (Lily's and James' had candles stuck in the center), James laid down his spoon. This was a cause for surprise to both Hermione and Lily, as food was one of his favorite things.

"Mom," he said, addressing Hermione quite suddenly. "Why are we celebrating our birthday tonight? I mean, we aren't even eleven yet."

"Honey, I already told you that," Hermione said, a bite of mousse halfway to her mouth. "It'll be your eleventh birthday tomorrow, and your eleventh is a very special birthday. Something is already planned for tomorrow, and it might go into dinnertime, so I took you out tonight instead." James nodded, not entirely satisfied, as Lily shot him an I-told-you-so look.

It was after nine o'clock when Hermione pulled the car into the driveway of the house, and though it was summertime, she saw that Lily and James were ready to fall asleep. She ushered the two into the house and upstairs to their bedrooms, where they changed into their pajamas and called for her to tuck them into bed.

Hermione went into her son's bedroom first, and she was surprised to find that it was clean and neat, with all of the dirty camp clothes in the basket by the door. James was curled up in his bed, reading Tolkein's _Lord of the Rings_ series in the light of his bedside lamp. She made her way over to him, sat on the edge of the bed, and took the book from him, examining it.

"Haven't you already read this whole series twice already?"

"Only four times," he said sheepishly. "It's a good series!" She laughed softly.

"It's okay to like to read, James," she told him, setting the book back on the nightstand and turning out the lamp. "I'm not going to try to stop you from reading, ever." She could see the outline of his face smiling at her in the dark.

"Thanks, Mom. Good night."

"Night, kiddo," she said, kissing his forehead and standing to leave the room. "I love you."

"I love you to." And with that, she closed the door, leaving it open a few centimeters, and turned across the hall to Lily's room. She was unsurprised to find her daughter sitting up against her pillows, also reading. Unlike her son, however, Lily didn't much like fantasy books; she was reading Agatha Christie's _Ten Little Indians_, and promptly looked up when her mother entered the room.

"Hey, sweetheart, time to go to bed?" Hermione asked. Lily nodded, setting the book on the nightstand and allowing her mother to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Thanks again for dinner," she said with a smile. "It was great." Hermione beamed, bending down to kiss Lily goodnight.

"Brush your teeth and wash your face?"

"Yep," Lily grinned to show as much of the surface of her teeth as she could.

"Good girl. I'm glad you had a good time at dinner. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay." Hermione turned to leave after stroking her daughter's cheek with her own thumb.

"I love you, Lily," she said, flipping off the lights.

"Love you too," came the voice through the dark.

It was going to be hard, Hermione knew as she walked the hallway back to her own bedroom. A wooden trunk sat at the foot of the bed—the trunk that she had used at school. She sat on the floor beside it and lay her head atop the smooth, polished oak. But she had to, for her children's sakes.

Suddenly, she stood and made her way over to her dresser. Maybe, she thought as she sifted through socks and things at the back of the drawer, it wouldn't be so difficult if she took a peek before hand. Her fingers closed around something smooth and familiar, and as she pulled out her arm, her wand was clutched in her right hand. Going back over to the trunk, she made sure that her door was closed before pointing her wand at the trunk and uttering the first spell that she had used in over eleven years.

"_Alohomora_," she said in a shaky voice. For a split second, she thought she'd lost her magic, but the lid sprang open and revealed the contents within. Kneeling and dropping her wand on the floor beside her, Hermione began to sift through things that she had once cherished and had not seen daylight for over a decade. Yet the photographs still smiled and waved up at her, and the robes were as black as ever. Swallowing hard, she grabbed the first book her hands would reach: her old-time favorite _Hogwarts: A History_. Closing and relocking the trunk, she curled up into her own bed, lifted the cover of the now-dusty volume, and began to read.

The combination of warm rays of sunlight falling across her face and happy laughter woke Hermione the next morning. Rubbing her eyes, she rolled over and was shocked to find that it was already 8:45 am. After a quick shower, she threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and hurried down the stairs.

Entering the sunlit kitchen, she saw that Lily and James were both sitting at the kitchen table and playing a board game. Both were still in their pajamas, and Lily's hair was up in a ponytail. Hermione smiled and greeted them, opening the refrigerator and taking out a container of blueberry pancake batter.

"Happy Birthday!" she said, beaming. "How long have you guys been up?"

"Since seven," Lily answered promptly while James moved a gamepiece several squares around the board.

"Do you want pancakes for breakfast?" The grins she received at the mention of food told her what she needed to know. Lily and James continued to play their ordinary muggle board game (the game of _Life_) without a second thought—_although, _she thought to herself, _you've got to love a game where you can sell your kids for money_. Not that she'd sell her own for anything in the world, of course.

Noon slowly crept closer and closer, and it seemed as though the twins were growing very impatient as to what it was they would be doing for the rest of the day. By eleven thirty, Hermione decided that if their letters didn't arrive that day, then she would take them to the pier amusement park. When she saw two owls flutter to her mailbox, however, she knew that she had no such luck. Her stomach gave a leap.

"James, Lily, the mail's here!" she called into the kitchen where they were playing a card game. Lily hastened to put the cards away and the two of them marched out into the bright sunlight of the warm July Saturday to collect the mail. It came as a shock to the two of them when they discovered that, among the rubbish bills and catalogs, were six letters, each addressed to Lily or James Granger.

"What the—"James started, but Lily shook her head.

"Let's go back inside," she said pointedly, and clutching the daily mail in his hand, James turned and followed his sister back into the kitchen, where their mother sat, looking nervous and clutching a mug of tea in her hands.

"Well?" she asked them with an interested expression on her face.

"We got mail," Lily said, separating hers and James' letters out from the junk and giving the rest to Hermione, whose face contorted into a bewildered expression when she saw that each child had three letters.

"A lot of weird-looking mail," James said, looking apprehensively at the envelopes.

"Let's open this one first," Lily said, pointing to a normal, business-sized envelope with a stamp and an official-looking seal at the return address. They tore open the envelopes and read the letters with an excited expression. Lily let out a shout of joy as she thrust the envelope at her mother:

_Dear Miss Lily Granger,_

_Our staff is proud to announce your acceptance into the Chesapeake Academy_ …

Hermione was both stunned and pleased. Her children, especially Lily, had been hoping to get into the Chesapeake Academy for ages. It was an excellent New England secondary school with a wonderful reputation and state-of-the-art equipment. However, she hadn't expected that acceptance today, not when the twins were to find out that—

"I'm a wizard?" James asked quietly, mouth half-open. He was staring at the second letter, which had been written on peach-colored parchment with violet ink. Lily looked aghast, then tore her peach envelope open, too.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_Congratulations on your acceptance to the Salem Institute of Magic…_

She looked up at Hermione, who smiled and nodded with a sadness to her face.

"You need to open the one with the green writing," she told them. She had forgotten about there being another magic school right here in Massachusetts; of course the twins would be accepted there. James tore it open the yellowed parchment envelope first, revealing a neat letter, written in emerald ink. He began to read.

_Dear Mr. Granger,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _

_The term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor M. McGonagall_

_Headmistress_

James looked up at Lily to find that she had an identical expression of shock on her face. Questions began shooting off in his head, like firecrackers. His head seemed to be spinning so quickly he didn't know what to do, so it was lucky that Lily spoke first.

"What does it mean, that I'm a witch?" she asked her mother. Hermione smiled.

"It means that you can do magic, sweetheart."

"Like what?" Suddenly, James saw his mother do something strange. She pulled a long, thin bit of wood from the sleeve of her sweater and pointed it at nothing in particular.

"_Wingardium leviosa,_" she said carelessly, flicking her wand at the cup of tea in front of her. Slowly, the cup began to rise straight into the air, hovering a foot above the table. Lowering the cup, she glanced at her children. Both were looking at her with frightened and amazed expressions on their faces.

"Wow," James whispered.

"That's impossible," Lily said in quiet amazement.

"It's very possible, and in fact very true." She paused for a moment, looking from one stunned face to the other. "I think it's time," she said, taking a deep breath, "that I show you something that I've been keeping from you for all these years."

* * *

That's all for now. What did you think?

Ten points are yours if you can tell me what the twins' reactions will be, and five if you can guess what Hermione gives them as a birthday gift.

Review, take a guess on the above questions and tell me what you thought!

Callista Rose


	3. Shock and Disbelief

Wow! I can't believe it! This story has gotten more hits in a day and a half than my other one had received in over a year! Thanks a load to all of the people who read this, even if you don't take the time to review. To my reviewers: there are messages at the end of this chapter.

And now, on to the next installment.

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 2

* * *

"_I think it's time," she said, taking a deep breath, "that I show you something that I've been keeping from you for all these years."_

Hermione sat on her bed, legs crossed, a large pile of books and photographs laid out in front of her. Lily, who was sitting on Hermione's left, lay her head against her mother's shoulder and kept quiet, shocked, through many of the stories that she told. James, like his sister, listened intently, but he blurted out questions often, and was now holding his mother's wand with amazement and awe.

"This," Hermione said, pointing to a photo in the album that was open in her lap, "is the three of us at Bill Weasley's and Fleur Delacour's wedding." It was a lovely photograph out in the sun. All three of them wore their dress robes, Hermione sandwiched in the picture by Ron and Harry on either side of her. They waved and smiled merrily out of their picture. Lily breathed in suddenly. This was the last album that they were going through, but she still didn't quite like the idea of the people in the photos having minds of their own.

"Wow," said James. He, on the other hand, loved the moving pictures, and was smiling and waving back at them. "So, um, is this the part where we find out who our father is?" he asked as Hermione turned the page.

"Yes, I think now is as good a time as any." She pointed to a photograph of her and Harry together, taken at the same event. She pointed down at Harry.

"Here he is," she said softly, suddenly feeling a small lump in her throat that she quickly tried to swallow away. Neither child spoke for a moment.

"Harry Potter? He's our father?" James asked. Hermione nodded, the lump growing larger still.

"Yes. You two were named after his mother and father, Lily and James Potter. The two of them were murdered by Lord Voldemort. They gave up their lives so that their son would be able to live." Hermione felt a tear fall down her cheek. Lily lifted up her head and gazed into her eyes. She was silent for a minute.

"Would you do that for us?"

"Of course I would, and without even having to think about it. For you, I would go to the moon and back." Another tear ran down her cheek.

"He has my eyes," Lily said quietly, unable to tear her eyes from the photograph of her parents, together. "Can we Xerox this picture? I'd like to have a copy."

"Me, too," James piped up from Hermione's other side. She hugged them both close and nodded.

"Of course. Would you like the pictures to move?" James nodded, but Lily hesitated.

"Yes," she said finally. Hermione smiled.

"Good. James, could I have my wand for a moment?" James handed it to her, eager to see her do more magic.

"_Duplicio_," she said, pointing her wand at the photograph. Instantly, an exact copy appeared from her wand, and she hurriedly duplicated this one, handing one photograph to each of her children. Concentrating hard, she conjured two picture frames out of nowhere and handed them to Lily and James. James blinked down at the photo and frame in his hands.

This magic thing could take some getting used to. He glanced over at Lily, who seemed to have a furious battle taking place inside of her head. James had a suspicion that he knew what this was about.

Ever since she was small, Lily had never believed in anything out of the ordinary. She wasn't afraid of ghosts or goblins or evil cackling witches or any of those things, because she didn't believe that they existed to begin with; she was a very skeptical person. However, there was no denying, now that they'd both been accepted into two different wizarding schools and found out that their parents had been an extraordinary witch and wizard, that magic certainly did exist.

"Oh, look at the time!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed, startling them both. James saw Lily visibly jump. "Sorry, guys," she apologized, "It's nearly eight o'clock now, you both must be starving."

Truthfully, Lily had been so shocked since noon that she'd forgotten all about food, but James nodded feverishly.

"Yeah," he said honestly. "I didn't want to interrupt you, though." Before long, they were being ushered downstairs into the kitchen, where Hermione popped a frozen pizza into the oven. While they were waiting, Hermione brought a chess set down from her bedroom, putting it on the table.

"We're gonna play _chess_?" James asked, looking mildly confused. Hermione smiled.

"Not just chess," she said. "Wizard's chess."

"Wizards have their own version of chess?" James asked interestedly. Before long, they were sitting at the table, James playing a game of chess with Hermione eagerly (Lily was watching them silently). James was egging on a rather shy bishop to smash one of Hermione's knights to pieces when the timer went off and they James cleared the table while Lily gathered plates for dinner.

Dinner was a quiet meal of pizza and salad. The three of them ate in near silence, each one immersed deep in thought. Hermione had told her children quite a lot that day, from the workings of the magical world to Hogwarts to her adventures with Harry and Ron and the workings and downfall of Voldemort, complemented, of course, with as many photographs and books as she could find.

She knew that James had shown a lot of excitement toward the magical world, and was amazed that all of the odd stuff that he and Lily could do wasn't a mental problem at all, as he and Lily had originally thought. They hadn't even been upset that she'd been keeping that secret from them for all of these years.

She was, however, worried about Lily. She knew that her daughter was usually as garrulous as her son, and loved to talk and joke around as much as James did. Today, however, she had been particularly subdued, and Hermione was worried. It seemed that with this news, her daughter's life and everything she believed had been turned upside down; the news had affected her moreso than it had James. She looked up at her daughter, who was pushing salad around on her plate.

"Are you alright, Lily?"

"I'm okay, I guess," she replied softly. "Just confused."

"It's okay, I was confused when I got my first letter, too. I was sure that magic could only exist in books." Lily nodded, understanding. Suddenly, she dropped her fork into her plate with a clatter.

"What if I don't want to go to Hogwarts?" she asked, her voice suddenly strong and clear. Hermione was stunned. She hadn't been expecting this at all.

"It's all your decision, sweetheart," she said. "But where will you go?" Lily's face was screwed up in thought and indecision.

"Chesapeake," she said suddenly. "I mean, I've always wanted to go there, anyways, and—"

"Oh, come on, Lily!" James burst out, sounding both exasperated and desperate. "You _can't_ go to Chesapeake!"

"Oh? And why can't I?" she asked, her glasses flashing dangerously, daring him to challenge her.

"Because I'm going to Hogwarts," he announced confidently, beaming at Hermione. She felt a surge of pride as she beamed back.

"So?" Lily said, acting nonchalant and composed, but Hermione could see that there was shock and fear in her daughter's face. She knew that, no matter what school she decided on, she didn't want to go anywhere without James. The two of them had never been separated, and they always seemed to draw comfort and strength from one another's presence.

"So I don't want to go by myself."

"Neither do I."

"Fine, so don't." They both sat quietly, eating another slice of pizza, keeping their mouths full so they wouldn't have to talk to each other. Hermione cleared her throat softly and turned toward Lily, who still had a determinedly defiant expression on her face.

"Why don't you want to go to Hogwarts, Lily?" she asked with concern on her face. Lily shrugged a little, lowering her head.

"I—I don't know," she said, sounding hopeless. "It's just that—well—it's so far away from you and I don't want us to go away to school and leave you by yourself. I mean, it'd be closer, Chesapeake." Hermione had to fight the urge to laugh.

"Is that all?" Lily shook her head, cheeks reddening slightly.

"Well, no, but—" she broke off. "It's stupid."

"Nothing that you could think would be stupid," Hermione said gently.

"All right, it's just that I've wanted to be a doctor for my whole life, and I don't want to ruin that."

"Oh, sweetie!" Hermione said, reaching across the table and resting her hand on top of her daughter's. "Do you think that the wizarding world doesn't have medical personnel? Of course, you can still be a doctor in the magical world, only they're called healers, and they use magic and potions to make people well."

"Oh," Lily said, going back to munching contentedly on her pizza. Her heart was lighter now, and she felt happily astonished for the first time since learning that she had magical blood flowing in her veins. She looked up at James and caught his eye, grinning. James grinned back at her.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, punching his fist into the air. Lily giggled, shaking her head.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking from one to the other, amused, though she had a fairly good grasp on what was going on.

"I guess I'll go to Hogwarts," Lily said, the decision made. She felt light and happy as she reached for a second slice of pizza, savoring the flavor. Hermione was overjoyed.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed. "Brilliant. I'll go and send your return owl and confirm your places in the class!" she said excitedly, and she dumped her empty plate in the sink and swept back up the stairs to her room. James beamed at Lily.

"I'm really glad that you're going." Lily gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, I guess I'm glad, too."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Well," Lily began, shifting in her chair. "I figured that I'd go and learn magic, like Mom did. And if I don't like it, I can always go to a normal university and still be a normal doctor. I've got nothing to lose by trying, have I?"

"Nope!" James said. "This has been a great birthday!" Lily nodded in agreement.

"How about a game of wizard's chess?" she asked eagerly, wanting to try a hand at the rather barbaric game herself.

"Definitely!" James said, stuffing the last bit of pizza crust into his mouth and retrieving the game, setting it onto the table.

The next morning, Lily rolled over in her bed, not opening her eyes. Summer sunlight streamed through her window and fell across her pillow, warming her face.

It had all been a dream, she thought, a magnificent dream, where magic existed and her mother was a witch and she had been accepted into Chesapeake and a magical school called Hogwarts. Today, then, would be her birthday. She was 11! Opening her eyes at last, she threw off her bedcovers and threw on a t-shirt and shorts. As she was making her bed, though, something caught her eye.

It was the photograph that her mother had given to her in the dream, the one of her mother and father together during their school days, and it was sitting in a frame on her nightstand. And it was _moving_.

A _moving photograph_. Lily gasped audibly. It _had_ been real, after all. She hastily finished making the bed, straightening her blue quilt and fluffing her pillow, and rushed downstairs, where the smell of bacon met her.

"Morning, sweetheart," Hermione said cheerfully, flipping the bacon in the pan.

"Morning, Mom."

"Is your brother still asleep?"

"Probably. Would you like to wake him up for me? I've got something else that's fun for you today." Lily nodded.

"Sure," and she turned and climbed the stairs to James' room. She fought the urge to laugh.

James was sprawled out, tangled in his blankets and his limbs stretched out at odd angles. His mouth was lolling open and he drooled on his sheets, as his head had fallen off of his pillow. She approached the bed quietly, snatching a pencil off of his desk. James had incredible reflexes, and she'd more than once been caught startling him. Aiming carefully, she poked his shoulder with the pencil.

He twitched and jerked awake, looking as if he didn't quite know where he was. He looked at Lily, who was smiling at him, and she saw his eyes move to the photo on his nighttable, which was a replica of the one in her own bedroom. His eyes widened.

"It—that—the picture—" he paused, staring intently at her. "It was _real_?" Lily nodded.

"I asked myself the same thing when I woke up this morning," she said as he gazed at her, amazed.

"So, we're magical still?"

"Yes, I guess so." A smile twitched at her lips. "Come downstairs, Mom's cooking breakfast, and I'm supposed to come fetch you."

"Alright," he said. "Wait a second and I'll get dressed." James kicked away the covers and once his sister was out of the room he changed into shorts and a t-shirt as well, and he bolted out the door. The two of them trekked back into the kitchen. What they saw made them grin eagerly at each other before running to give Hermione a hug.

At each of their places on the table, there was a plate of bacon, egg and toast, a glass of orange juice, and a small pile of birthday presents. They made beelines toward the table.

"I had to wait to give you those, you understand," she said casually, sitting at the table with her own breakfast plate.

"Are they—are they _magical_?" James asked eagerly as he picked up a box and shook it lightly. Hermione nodded.

"But you need to eat your breakfast first, don't let it get cold." She laughed as the twins began to eat at top speed. When James had shoved his last bit of toast in his mouth, he turned to the first gift in the pile and tore off the paper.

"Cool hat!" he exclaimed, holding up a rather unimpressive-looking green bowler hat. He jammed it onto his head, and almost immediately everything above his shoulders disappeared. Lily gasped and dropped the bacon she was holding.

"What?" came James' voice, apparently from nowhere. He took off the hat and his head and neck reappeared immediately.

"That's called a Headless Hat," Hermione explained. "It will make your head invisible when you put it on."

"Amazing!" he said. "That's really neat! Where'd you get this?"

"I bought it from London by owl order weeks ago, I know the owners of the shop where those are sold," she said fondly. She hadn't seen any of the Weasleys, who had always treated her like family, since before Lily and James had been born.

"Wow, this is incredible!" Lily said. She had just unwrapped her first birthday gift, which was another Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product: the reusable hangman. What appeared to be a little stick-man stared up at Lily, marching up a set of stairs leading to a miniature gallows. Hangman was one of her favorite games, and she was beaming.

More gifts were unwrapped, and both received trunks to pack for Hogwarts, an exploding snap deck to share between them, and both received books: _Hogwarts: A Revised History_ for Lily and _Quidditch Through the Ages_ for James. The thing that topped it, though, was what looked like a shoebox stuffed to capacity with sweets: Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizbees, Sherbert Balls, Sugar Quills, Licorice Wands, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and a large bag each of Bertie Botts' Every-Flavor Beans.

"Excellent!" James exclaimed, biting the head off of a jelly slug with energy.

"This stuff is really—oh!" Lily broke off, for she had unwrapped a chocolate frog and it had hopped out of her hand and across the table.

"Don't worry," said Hermione, noticing Lily's look of apprehension as she approached the now-still frog. "They've only got one good jump in them to start. Then they just stand still like normal chocolate."

"What's this?" she had pulled something from the inside of the package.

"Oooh," Hermione said with interest. "There's a famous witch or wizard card in every package. Which have you got?" Lily flipped over the card. A very old man with a long, crooked nose, half-moon spectacles, and long silver hair and beard blinked back at her, his eyes twinkling.

"_Albus Dumbledore_." James looked up at the mention of Dumbledore. Hermione suddenly became silent at his memory.

"Go on, Lily," James said. "What does the back say?"

"Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts 1949-1996: _Considered by many to have been the greatest wizard of his time, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, for his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel, and for the part he played in the downfall of the dark Lord Voldemort in 1996. Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling," _she read off the card, careful not to miss anything.

"Cool," James said. "I wonder if I've gotten Dumbledore in any of my chocolate frogs." Hermione was grateful to him for lightening up the mood, and the two kids happily went back to their sweets and birthday goodies.

Hermione vanished the wrapping paper strewn all over the table with a flick of her wand. She had one last gift that she wanted to give to Lily and James, as the event in concern would be taking place in a couple of days. She pulled two envelopes out of her pocket and caught their attention, handing the envelopes to them.

"What's this?" Lily asked. "You've given us quite a lot already, Mom." But James had already tore open his envelope and was pulling a rectangle of thick paper out of it, which he read and nearly dropped.

"Whoa!" he said excitedly.

"We're going to England!" Lily exclaimed happily, doing a sort of jig in excitement.

"Yes, we're going to England," Hermione said, smiling at the two of them. "That is, if you want to."

"Of course we want to!"

"When will we leave?"

"How long will we be there for?"

"Where are we staying?" Hermione had to laugh.

"We leave," she began, "On Friday. That will give me time to clear out my office and do some last things at the hospital—"

"Wait," Lily said, frowning. "You're leaving your job?"

"Yes, well, if I'm going to be in England with you two, I can't exactly commute, can I?" Both of them looked aghast.

"But mom, you love your job—"

"—not nearly as much as I love you. I promise, it's already fixed. I start at a hospital in London right after the two of you start at Hogwarts." Lily looked at her brother questioningly, and his frowned slightly in thought.

"So…" Lily said slowly, "does this mean that we're _moving_?" She looked mildly terrified.

"Well, I don't know for sure," Hermione said, sinking into one of the chairs at the table and folding her arms. "I thought I'd run the idea past the two of you first. I mean, I grew up in England, but—"

"Will it be hard for you?" Lily asked sympathetically, peering at Hermione through emerald eyes. Hermione sighed.

"Yes, I imagine that it will be," she said honestly. "But it's something that I have to do sooner or later. After I had you two, I realized that there was no way for me to completely forget the past. And besides," she said with a small smile. "There are loads of things that I miss in the wizarding world." They were silent for a moment. James fumbled with his airplane ticket and realized that there was another slip of parchment tucked inside of the envelope. He pulled it out with interest. Turning it over, he saw neat ruby script forming the words:

This slip of parchment is good for one magical animal of your choice (a cat, rat, owl or toad) and carrying case.

"Cool!" he exclaimed with interest. "I always wanted a pet. This is awesome!"

"What is it? Have I got one too?" she checked her envelope again, and found an identical slip of parchment. They both jumped up with glee, and Hermione couldn't help smiling. They rushed over to her, throwing their arms around her in such a manner that after a moment she could hardly breathe. With a chorus of "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" they packed their birthday presents into their new trunks and hauled them up the stairs to their bedrooms.

Unsure why, Hermione felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

It would be time, soon, to go back and reenter the world she had left behind so long ago. It would be difficult, but she knew that having James and Lily there would make it loads more bearable. The two of them had never made her happier.

* * *

To my reviewers:

**Kate**: Thanks for being my first reviewer. I'm definitely going to keep this story going. I hope that you keep reading!

**Bexxy**: Yay! An alert! I feel mildly flattered, thank you. And I definitely will keep writing.

**Hermione-Potter-52036**: Lets see, you're right, sort of, because everything is going to happen (one already did). The actual huge gift is the trip to London, so for that, I award 5 points to the House of your choice. Thanks a bunch for reviewing, you rock!

**Monk of the Neko**: Thank you very much, and I hope that you liked this chapter 

Hmm… let's see…for another challenge, you get 10 points if you can correctly guess who is the first person to see and recognize Hermione in Diagon Alley (which is next chapter).

That's all! Stick around for the next installment!

Callista Rose


	4. Another World

DISCLAIMER: If you recognize 'em, I don't own 'em, Kapische?

Bene.

And now to the next chapter…

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 4

* * *

And so the next week was a scramble to wash clothes and gather up cherished possessions to pack them for the journey overseas. When she was free from work, Hermione packed her own things up; since she'd be living and working in England, she needed to pack slightly more than her children.

Lily and James were so eager for the excursion that their own things were packed by Monday evening, so their mother conjured dozens of empty cardboard boxes and old newspapers and set them the task of packing up the rest of the items in the house.

"We might as well get a jump start on it," Hermione had told them to qualm the protests.

"But mom," James said in a slow, calm voice, as if speaking to a slightly challenged person, "how're we going to fit all of these boxes onto the plane with us? We're only allowed two suitcases and a carry-on each."

"Not only that, but our trunks alone are going to be over the weight limit as it is," Lily chimed in. Hermione marveled inwardly at what the two of them had researched on the internet about airline policies and procedures; neither of them had ever traveled by airplane before. They took vacations occasionally, true, but they always drove wherever they had to go.

"You both have good points," she began. "However, you won't be carrying your trunks with you."

"What?"

"How will we get them there, then?"

"They've been packed for ages!"

"I know that," she said calmly, opening the closet door and dragging out three large burgundy roller suitcases. "We'll shrink them a bit and fit them into these. We might look conspicuous carrying large trunks; people here don't use them, and even in England not too many bother with them. These will be easier to carry. Just get those boxes all packed up and leave your trunks to me." Raising their eyebrows at each other, the twins thought better than to question her.

At last Friday came, much to Lily's and James' delight, and it would soon be time to leave for England. The two of them had slept head-to-toe on the couch in the living room—the last bit of furniture remaining in the house aside from Hermione's bed, as their beds had been removed from their bedrooms—and were very much looking forward to when they could sleep normally again.

They spent much of the day out at the local park, running and playing games, capping it with a last walk around the neighborhood to visit and bid farewell to their friends, from whom they gathered addresses and telephone numbers and exchanged promises to keep in touch. When they returned to the house at late in the afternoon, they found a surprise.

Not only was Hermione home from work early, sitting and reading a book in a plush armchair that Lily was sure she'd never seen before, but in the hall were the three large suitcases from before, neatly lined up by the front door. Each bore a luggage tag bearing each of their names and an address that was strange to them. Hermione looked up from her book when they entered the room.

"Hey, guys, how was your day?"

"Good, we went to the park and said good-bye to a few people. You?"

"Packed up my office, came back here and…um…consolidated the rest of the luggage." She smiled as she said this.

"Consolidated?" James asked with both amazement and skepticism. "Does that mean that the entire contents of this house are now in those three suitcases?"

"Yes."

"How?" Lily burst out in confusion. "There's no way—"

"Darling, how many times do I have to tell you that it is both possible and true?" Hermione asked calmly. "A few simple spells and that's the lot of what we're taking with us."

"But what if they go through the bags in customs?" Hermione gave a shrug and a small smile.

"The stuff in there's all bewitched to look like normal clothes and things to anyone but us," she said, then quickly added, "are you guys hungry? We should go out to eat tonight, as we don't have any plates or utensils to eat with." Lily and James, looking at each other, nodded warily.

They each retrieved the backpack that they'd be taking onto the plane with them and met back by the front door, after having taken one last look around the house in which they had grown up. Stepping into the summer sunlight, James looked around.

"Mom," he said warily, "You haven't shrunken the car too, have you?"

"Of course not," she said, "I sold it."

"What?" Lily and James both nearly shouted.

"Well, there's really no way to get it onto the airplane, is there? So I've sold it and bought another car, which is already in England."

"How are we going to get to the airport, then?"

"Oh, I don't know if you all remember Dr. Reddinger? Well, he was particularly upset about my resignation, so he's going to swing by and take us to the airport. We'll check in and get something to eat before we leave," she explained.

Several hours later, Lily and James were still buzzing with excitement about the plane and England. Hermione, who sat next to Lily, sat reading quietly, while the twins were busy playing video games that were in the backs of the seats in front of them and watching movies. It probably hadn't been a good idea to buy them bubblegum, she reflected; she should have gone with something without sugar. Or sneaked valium into their drinks, that would have worked too.

"You two should probably get some sleep," Hermione warned them, setting her book down. "When we get there, it'll be the afternoon, and you won't get to sleep until later."

"Don't worry about us, mom," James said, trying to annihilate the aliens on the screen in front of him.

"We'll be fine," Lily told her, pushing buttons energetically on the controller in her hand. "Hey," she said, turning to James. "I wonder if there's a way for us to play against each other on these things…"

And as she had predicted, her children had gotten very little sleep on the airplane and she'd had to practically drag the two bleary-eyed and pale children through customs. To Lily's amazement, the man who went through their suitcases swept his eyes over dozens of tiny cardboard boxes and pieces of furniture without even blinking. She looked over at James to see if he'd noticed it, too, but he was too busy almost falling asleep leaning against Hermione to notice.

In fact, sorting out their study and employment visas, passports, and travel papers took so long that Lily and James slept for a good while before Hermione finally woke them to drag their luggage to the taxi stop to hail a cab to Surrey, not far from London, where they would be living. Lily quickly wished that she'd slept on the plane more so she would be able to take in everything new she was seeing. They had hardly buckled their seatbelts before both children were fast asleep, heads drooping onto their shoulders.

The next day or so was a blur to Lily and James, who slept most of the time curled up in plush sleeping bags that Hermione had conjured out of nowhere, emerging only to eat and fall back asleep again. She had refused to sleep until it was a decent hour, determined to avoid being terribly jet-lagged.

She unpacked all three of the suitcases before her children regained consciousness two mornings after they had arrived. Lily was the first to emerge bright-eyed from her sleeping bag. Rubbing her eyes and taking a moment to wonder why she was half-wrapped up in a sleeping bag on the floor of a room she'd never seen before, she shook her brother awake.

"Whassamatter?" he asked groggily before rolling out of the sleeping bag. He sat up suddenly, quite awake. Lily grinned at him.

"We're not in Boston anymore!" she said excitedly.

"Which would explain why I woke up in a sleeping bag in someone else's living room."

"This is our new house, you dolt!" she said. Their eyes met for a moment, then stood up quickly.

"I get the big room!" James shouted, stampeding up the wooden staircase with Lily at his side.

"I've got dibs if one has a bay window or a walk-in closet!"

It turned out that the house had three bedrooms aside from the master one, so agreeing on who got which bedroom was simpler than Hermione had thought. Of course, she'd been slightly annoyed when she woke up to their shouts that day, but it hadn't mattered to her too much.

They spent that day doing a walking tour of the major London sights; Lily had loved looking at all of the different things, especially the palace where the queen lived. James had been more entertained trying to get the palace guards to crack a smile, but had no luck.

Growing up in Boston, the twins had no inhibitions when it came to a big, bustling city like London. What they were unfamiliar with was the language. Though the passersby undoubtedly spoke English, they all spoke in an accent like Hermione's, though some were so thick that it was hard to understand the speaker at all. James had been especially annoyed when a man in the café where they'd eaten lunch called him a "little foreigner, accent an' all."

"Well," Lily said fairly when they emerged onto a crowded, busy street from a broken-down escalator leading from the Underground. "We _are_ foreigners here. Except for Mom," she added as an afterthought.

"I haven't been here for so long that I'm beginning to feel foreign my—oh, my!" she exclaimed.

"What?" both children asked at once. They saw that they had stopped abruptly in front of a run down, shabby-looking little pub. Lily and James pulled Hermione from the sidewalk into the eaves of the place to stop her being trampled by the people on the street.

"You can't just stop like that, you could get squashed," Lily told her.

"Yeah, besides, this is just a grimy-looking little pub. Nobody else is having this reaction," James said from Hermione's other side.Lily looked around to see that this was very true. The commoners on the sidewalk weren't paying the tavern one bit of attention. In fact, she saw, frowning, their eyes seemed to be slipping right from the record shop on one side to the bookstore on the other without even glancing at the pub.

Hermione simply shook her head, looking dazed. It was the Leaky Cauldron, the entrance into the magical world from the muggle one. Quickly, she grabbed her children by the back of the shirt and ushered them into the pub.

It was exactly as she'd remembered it. The scrubbed wooden tables, the bar, even Tom, the old bartender. A woman hidden by a balaclava was drinking a tiny glass of sherry and muttering to herself in the corner. A man reading _The Daily Prophet _was stirring his teaspoon by waving his finger over it in circles, and a group of older witches in long robes were discussing the latest article in _Herbology Weekly _over tea and scones. A bell over the door tinkled jauntily as the three of them entered.

"Afternoon, Miss," Tom said, looking up. His eyes lingered on her for a moment, then swept to her children. "Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, thank you," she said, leading Lily and James quickly through the pub, which held a handful of customers, to the back door. They stepped out into a short, narrow alleyway with a metal trashbin at the end.

"What _was_ that place?" Lily asked, interested.

"It was the Leaky Cauldron," Hermione replied, drawing her wand and counting the bricks above the trash can. "This is a part of London that nonmagical people don't know anything about. Are you ready to see Diagon Alley?" Before waiting for an answer, Hermione gave the key brick a tap with her wand.

James watched the bricks slide this way and that, forming a hole in the wall which became larger and larger until there was a sort of archway leading onto another busy-looking street lined with shops. Only on this street, all of the people were wearing different-colored robes and running about from shop to shop carrying large cauldrons. He felt that they were out of place there, in jeans and t-shirts (Hermione wore a sweater), but in sweeping the crowd he noticed that there were plenty of people dressed like them who must have come from non-magic London.

Stepping into Diagon Alley, Lily and James both wished they had another pair of eyes, and kept tilting their heads and craning their necks in all directions in a vain attempt to see everything at once. There were shops with signs in the windows advertising that cauldron prices had been marked down, ones that held dozens of cages containing a wide variety of hooting owls, others holding moving mannequins modeling the latest in robe styles, and James spotted a sweetshop that contained the largest stack of chocolate frogs he could have imagined, towering to the ceiling and no doubt held together by magic. Hermione led them down the street to a large, snow-white building that appeared to have been made entirely of marble.

"Before we buy anything," Hermione told them. "We have to exchange our money for wizard's money—coins called galleons, sickles, and knuts. This is Gringotts, the wizard bank. It's run by goblins, and they can be tricky and intimidating, so if you want you can wait out here until I get back."

"No way!" James exclaimed. "I want to see the bank!"

"Me, too," Lily said. They gave each other looks that said quite clearly that they wanted to see as much as they possibly could of this new place, though they did walk very closely at Hermione's sides as a precaution.

Several minutes and a pleasant goblin encounter later, they stood blinking in the sunlight back on the marble steps trying to decide where to go first. Hermione knew from experience that if they bought all of their school supplies in one go, they wouldn't be able to carry everything back into London easily; she didn't want to risk shrinking the books or any magical animal that they might want to purchase.

"Okay, so here's the plan," she told them, ushering them to one side of the staircase so that they wouldn't be blocking anyone's way. "We are going to buy your schoolbooks first, and if you'd like we can stop in at the Magical Menagerie or Eyelops Owl Emporium (they're like pet shops) and choose an animal to take with you to school." Lily flashed James a grin, and he grinned back. It was all so new and exciting, and they couldn't wait to start actually exploring Diagon Alley.

"Great!" Lily said happily, "Where's the bookstore?"

"It's down this way a bit," Hermione said, smiling in spite of herself. She hadn't been inside of Flourish and Blotts in the longest time, and was looking forward to going back. She led them down the alley and into the bookstore.

While Hermione was receiving help with the twins' booklist from the clerk dressed in slate grey robes, Lily and James slipped from their mother's view and wandered among the dusty bookshelves, examining the books themselves. There were books stacked floor to ceiling: books the size of small boulders, ones no bigger than postage stamps, and even a few spaces in the shelves that they found held books that were invisible. They were bound in everything from fine gold to silk to leather and burlap, and the two of them couldn't take their eyes off of the covers.

There were books filled with words in other languages, one held strange-looking symbols that neither of them had ever seen before, and a few that seemed to have nothing in them at all. Lily had to drag James away from a book called _1001 Ways to Get Revenge _by Professor Vindictus Veridian ("We don't even have wands yet!"), and both of them sat for a long time with an open book through which they were watching an entire quidditch match (World Cup Match 1845, Scotland vs. Latvia). Too long, perhaps, because an exasperated-looking Hermione, carrying two bags crammed with books, found them and nearly cried.

"Sorry mom," Lily apologized quickly, allowing Hermione to lecture them about leaving her sight.

"We're fine mom," James said, setting the quidditch book rather reluctantly back on the shelf. "We've seen loads of really cool books, though. Are those are schoolbooks?" Hermione nodded.

"Awesome!"

"Yeah, awesome. Let's go, okay? We can hit the pet shops next, then, and you can choose your animals," she said, leading them through the twisted stacks out into the sunlight as if she'd done it a hundred times before. "Have you given any more thought to which you'd like?"

"An owl," James replied immediately.

"Lily?"

"I don't know, either an owl or a cat, I think, but I have to see them first." They made their way through the curving alleyway, Hermione leading the way until something caught James' eye and he practically hurled himself into the glass shopfront window.

"Wait!" she heard Lily cry, joining James at the window. Hermione turned and saw them at the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, where James and Lily were staring in with interest at the newest model broomstick, something called the Phoenix, and at the dozens of beater's bats, seeker's gloves, and quidditch robes in the shop windows.

After much protesting, Hermione had allowed them into the shop before dragging them out again, reminding them of the Magical Menagerie, though they still had not completely forgotten the wonders of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

They must have inherited the interest in quidditch from Harry, Hermione thought as she led them to the pet shop, because the only reason she'd really gone to those matches (aside from the World Cup) was that Harry, Ron and Ginny were on the team. She definitely preferred to keep her feet firmly on the ground, thank you very much.

They soon found the Menagerie and after several minutes emerged again, James clutching a cage which housed a handsome chocolate owl with glittering black eyes, and Lily held the cage of a cream-colored owl with rather interesting blue-green eyes, which were not visible at the moment because it was asleep with its head under its wing.

Lily and James were thanking Hermione to the point of actually stuttering the whole time they made their way back to the gateway into the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione, carrying their schoolbooks, stopped when they arrived at the stretch of brick wall.

"I know," she told them. "Don't worry, it's just a belated birth—" but her sentence was prematurely punctuated by somebody gasping loudly in their direction. Lily and James turned their heads to find the cause of the noise.

A slim, pretty woman with warm brown eyes and a sheet of brilliantly red hair that fell down her back was holding one hand over her mouth and clutching the other to her chest in shock. Her expression was frozen in shock on her face, her mouth gaping half-open in a mix between disbelief, confusion and horror. Her eyes were fixed on Hermione's face.

But not for long, because she promptly fainted.

Lily and James stood staring, frozen to the spot. Lily was first to dart from the spot and over to the woman whom she'd never met in her life.

"Mom!" she called, turning the woman onto her back with some difficulty, looking frightened. Hermione turned to face her, did a double take, and recognized her old friend immediately.

"Oh, God, Ginny!" she exclaimed, rushing to her side. She pulled a handkerchief from her purse and doused it with a spurt of cold water from her wand and put it across Ginny's forehead. After a minute, her eyes flickered open and she sat up slowly, trembling.

"Hermione?" she asked, her voice weak and quivering. Hermione, giving a small smile, nodded, and the next instant Ginny threw her arms around her tightly and the two women were sobbing in each others' arms.

Lily and James, recognizing that this was not a scene that they wanted to take part in, shrunk back against into a corner, still clutching their owl cages. Lily gave James a wide-eyed look, realizing that this must be the Ginny Weasley they'd heard so many stories about, seen so many pictures of. James nodded, understanding her.

The two women sat on the ground embracing for a long time, and Ginny sobbed with a combination of happiness and immense relief. After what seemed like hours, they stood up and Hermione dried the handkerchief, offering it to her though her own eyes shone with tears.

"We thought—we were sure—you were—you were—" she couldn't bring herself to utter the word, "_dead_." Hermione shook her head.

"I left after—the final battle—when—" her own eyes began to tear. "Oh, this is stupid," she said, wiping her eyes and turning to the twins, who were slumped in the corner, astonished. She motioned them to come over to where she was standing, but they hesitated.

"Ginny Weasley," she said, "this is James and Lily," she paused. "My children." Ginny's hand flew to her mouth again, which gave the kids a chance to talk.

"It's good to meet you," James said quietly, turning to Lily expectantly, willing her silently to speak so that he wouldn't feel so awkward.

"Yes, we've heard so much about you."

"Hermione?" Ginny asked in a still-faint voice, glancing from one child to another.

"I think we need to go somewhere quiet to explain," Hermione said calmly, though her voice wavered slightly as she spoke.

* * *

Okay, dumb chapter, I know, the next should be up in a day or so. I'm glad that you've stuck with it for this long, and the next chapter will provide an update as to what everyone has been up to for eleven years, who has kids, who's died, etcetera.

To my reviewers:

**bexxy:** thank you! I'm glad that you've been sticking with my story (even the pathetic first chapter…lol), and I appreciate your reviews.

**Lilah lee**: I will! I will! Lol…thanks for the review!

**james'nsiriusfan**: I'm really glad that you like it…it does get better. Thanks a lot!

**Monk of the Neko**: Sweet review…lol…I'll definitely keep going. Thanks so much for reviewing more than once! I love it!

**Keman**: definitely! Of course I'll finish it—I hate it too much when people abandon stories in the middle to do that myself.

Thanks a bunch, guys, even if you don't review I'm glad that you're reading. It makes me want to write more…haha.

Later, alligators!

Callista Rose


	5. Catching Up

If you want the disclaimer, then please push the back button on your browser. Don't forget to come back and read this chapter, tho!

Okay, so it's time to go on to see what Ginny has to say—

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 5

* * *

"Wow," Ginny said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Wow, I can't believe it."

The journey back to the house from Diagon Alley had been a quiet blur to Lily and James. They merely watched in silent astonishment as Hermione nearly carried the still-faint Ginny back to their kitchen and made cups of tea for the two of them after ushering the protesting twins up to their bedrooms for a couple of hours.

"Only until I can straighten this out," Hermione had said, disappearing behind a closed door and casting an Imperturbable charm on it.

"Man!" Lily groaned, "I don't think that that's the way that Mom wanted to meet up with her old friends."

"I can't believe she won't let us listen!"

"Still, though, it is kind of private—"

"She told us, though!" James exclaimed in frustration.

"Then why do we need to hear it again?" James fell silent.

"I guess we don't. But I would like to hear what Miss Weasley has to say after all these years," he threw a hopeful glance at his sister, who shrugged, plopping down on the couch in the next room.

"When she wants to tell us, she will, I guess," she said as her brother sat next to her. They were silent for a moment, straining their ears to hear anything that they could coming from the next room. When no decibel escaped from under the door, they recognized the lost cause.

"Oh, well," Lily said, grabbing one of the two bags that Hermione had dropped by the door. "I'm going to organize these." James smirked.

"You mean read them all," he joked, and Lily punched him in the arm.

"Like you didn't ask me earlier if we could trade off the books we got for our birthday 'cause you already finished yours." She grinned at him. He simply rolled his eyes and picked up the other bag, following his sister up the stairs until they turned into their respective rooms.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Ginny had finished listening to the whole of Hermione's story without uttering a sound. Still mildly in shock from finding her friend after all these years, she shook her head, mouth half-open in disbelief.

"Hermione," she whispered, not touching her tea. "They—we—have been looking for you, we never stopped looking for you, for all these years…" Hermione reached her hand over and placed it on top of Ginny's hand comfortingly.

"Ginny," she said quietly, meeting her eyes. "I needed to go…I don't know if you understand or not, but I _had_ to—"

"But why? None of us ever left, even after you did. We thought that you were dead." Hermione sighed, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I don't know, I just—" she took a breath. "After Harry and Ron—"

"They've never stopped," Ginny said quietly. Hermione looked up in alarm.

"What do you mean?" she asked almost inaudibly, her voice quivering.

"Hermione, they're still alive." Hermione gaped at Ginny as though she'd smacked her in the face. All the blood was draining from her face. She did a mental double-take.

"What?" she said faintly, her voice revealing complete disbelief.

But she never really heard the answer to her own question.

Because she fainted.

The thud of Hermione's limp body hitting the kitchen floor and Ginny's panicked cries of "Hermione, Hermione, wake up!" caused Lily to dash down the stairs as fast as she could and start trying to break down the kitchen door. There was no need for this, as the door was unlocked, and she burst through it. Her green eyes widened behind the lenses of her glasses and she ran over to where her mother was, unconscious and lying in a heap on the floor.

Lily's shrill screams carried farther than Ginny's had, with the result that James came thundering down the stairs and into the kitchen to see what was going on. He burst through the door, causing it to slam against the other side of the wall. His eyes fell on Ginny, kneeling on Hermione's one side, and Lily, trying to get her mother a wet handkerchief.

"What did you do?" James bellowed at Ginny, who was nearly paralyzed with fear.

"Nothing," she told him, voice quavering. "She just fainted."

"You must have done something to make her faint." James said. Ginny looked at Lily, hopeful for an ally. Lily shrugged coldly, dabbing Hermione's forehead with the damp cloth.

"She's never fainted before in her life," she said quietly, now willing Hermione to wake up, staring into her face. As blood flow to her head resumed, Hermione took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Don't sit up yet, mom," James said shakily. Lily threw her arms around her. Hermione sat bolt upright anyway, her eyes darting from Lily (still pale and holding the handkerchief), to James, whose eyes were round as tennis balls, to Ginny, who knelt silently on the floor two feet away, looking both frightened and as if she'd been put into a very awkward situation. Her eyes bore into Ginny's own.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. Ginny nodded, causing Hermione's insides to fill with an emotion that she could not describe, and she burst into tears.

James and Lily looked at each other, stunned and unsure of what they should do. Both of them knew that their mother was a rather emotional person, and they had seen her cry before on several occasions, but this time was different. Sobs shook her whole body; even her hair seemed to tremble.

Ginny was first to rush in to hold Hermione in an embrace, laughing. James felt like he wanted to kick her in the shins, but seeing as how she and Hermione were holding tightly to each other he refrained, not wanting to kick the wrong person by mistake.

They broke apart at last, and Hermione wiped the tears off of her streaked face, though more quickly took their place. She gave a feeble laugh through the tear and sniffed. Lily ran to get her a tissue, which Hermione gratefully took before pulling her daughter into a hug. Before James could move, he too had been enveloped in the embrace.

When he pulled away, he saw that Lily had tears in her eyes. He looked at her wildly, asking silently why in the world she could possibly be crying. Lily shrugged, looking surprised with herself and wiping her eyes with another tissue. Hermione beamed through the tears that were still streaming down her cheeks and turned back to Ginny at last.

"Where are they?" she asked. "Where have they been?" Ginny smiled, sitting down at the table. Hermione followed suit, and after glancing at each other, so did Lily and James. Hermione gave them a look, but they stayed fast, rooted to their chairs.

"They're both away at the moment, they're Aurors now," she added, grinning at the two children. By the way her eyes lingered for a moment on James' untidy hair and Lily's emerald eyes, Lily knew that her mother had told Ginny about who their father was. James, on the other hand, wanted desperately to ask who they were talking about, what her mother was crying over, and he probably would have if Lily hadn't kicked him under the table to stop him interrupting.

"Oh my goodness," Hermione said, as though she couldn't believe her ears. "I can't believe it—well, I can, of course, I knew that they could—but wow."

"After the Final Battle, they were awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class by Scrimgeour. He's not the Minister of Magic anymore; the wizarding community didn't seem to like how he handled everything with You-know-who. Sorry, I never really did get used to saying his name," she added to Hermione. "Anyways, the new Minister—he's not really new, but he is to you—is a man called Midas Paraben. He's a fantastic guy, awarded every member of the Order some form of the Order of Merlin. Even you, actually," she added.

"Me? How was that one managed?" Hermione asked, shocked. She ran away, and that certainly didn't merit any medals or awards.

"Ron and Harry insisted on it. They told everyone that even though you were—missing," she seemed to hesitate for a moment on the word choice. Lily knew that she would have said dead. "Anyway, they said that you had as much of a part in V-Voldemort's defeat as they did."

"After his downfall, they tried to fetch you like they'd promised. They searched as much of the country as they could on foot, sent out owls, and even put up posters to see if anyone had seen you or knew anything. When nothing happened for months, we all assumed that you were—that you weren't coming back," now it was Ginny's turn to dry her own eyes.

"I don't think that they ever got over your leaving," she said, though with some difficulty. "They were the only ones who refused to accept it, and they never stopped looking for you. Harry and Ron told me that you were way too talented to ever go down so easily, and they were right."

"Wait," James started, this time getting the words out before Lily (who was now giving him a warning glare) could kick him. "My mother's friends…didn't they die like over eleven years ago?" Ginny shook her head.

"No," she smiled at them. "No, they didn't." Lily and James gaped at her with identical expressions of astonishment on their faces.

"Our father's alive?" Lily asked quietly.

"Our godfather too?" Ginny looked up at Hermione, who smiled sheepishly.

"I know I never talked to him about it," Hermione told Ginny, "but I named Ron their godfather…I mean, I know it was completely stupid, since I thought he was dead at the time, but since you're the godmother—"

"What?"

"Er, yeah, Ginny…I named you their godmother, in case something ever happened to me. I figured that you were the person who I knew the best from here, and I knew that you were the best choice," she said very fast, her cheeks growing a nervous pink. "So, I'm sorry if I put you on the spot like that, but if you don't want to, I can—"

"Are you mad?" Ginny exclaimed in response to this. "I'm thrilled! This is so exciting!" Lily and James glanced at each other and grinned.

"I'm really glad, Ginny," Hermione said honestly, then turned to her kids. "Sorry I forgot to tell you, guys."

"That's okay, Mom."

"Yeah, this is really cool! We have a godmother!" Before they knew what was happening, Ginny had swept them up in a huge hug. They were all laughing when they pulled away.

"Sorry about being rude to you earlier," James said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it," she said. She looked from James to Lily to Hermione and back again, and clapped her hands together merrily.

"This calls for a celebration," she announced merrily. Hermione frowned slightly.

"What kind of celebration?"

"I don't know…what time is it?" she asked, glancing around the room for a clock.

"It's nearly seven," Lily told her after looking at down at her wristwatch.

"Goodness! It's getting late…Lily, James, what would you like for supper? Ginny, you're welcome to stay if you'd like," Hermione said, zooming around to pull pots and pans onto the stove.

"Stop," Ginny said, "I forbid you to cook. I want to take you all out to eat somewhere…I know a charming little Muggle restaurant we could go to, I just need to check in at home first, to let Michael know that I'll be late…"

"Wait, not Michael Corner…" Ginny laughed.

"Of course not, I'd never hitch with that old dolt. No, his name is Michael Watson, lovely person, he was in Ravenclaw a year ahead of you lot," she was, of course, referring to Hermione, Harry, and Ron when she said this. "Anyway, we sort of eloped during the Second War, about a month before the Final Battle."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ginny shrugged.

"We figured that everyone had enough on their plates already without having to deal with a long-term relationship. Everyone was pretty good about it, though. Of course, they had to be after my daughter Genevive was born not so much later than we announced our marriage…" Ginny's voice trailed off and she blushed slightly.

"You have a child?" Hermione asked, smiling amusedly. "I thought you told me that you never wanted children because they could be—"

"Such devilish little blighting imps," Ginny finished thoughtfully, "yes, I know, but I don't really like any children but the ones in the family, and you two," she said, turning to Lily and James.

"I actually have two children, Adrian and Genevive, which, by the way, was Michael's idea. For about a year there we had a Ginny and a Genny, which got pretty bloody confusing after a while, so now we just call her Eve. She's eleven, so she'll be starting at Hogwarts in the fall, and Adrian's up next year. Which reminds me," she said, turning to Hermione inquisitively. "You don't happen to have any Floo powder, do you?"

"No, we got to Diagon Alley today through London," she said shaking her head.

"Oh, well, no matter, I'm sure that I can find some in here," she turned to her purse and began rummaging through it. A moment later, she pulled out a small sack. "You don't mind if I use your fireplace, do you?"

"Of course not," Hermione smiled and Ginny as she disappeared through the kitchen door, her hair rippling after her. She returned a few moments later, looking very pleased.

"It's alright with him," she said, smiling excitedly like she and Hermione were schoolgirls again. "So, Hermione, what's the verdict? Are you going to let me treat you to dinner?" Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Lily and James cut her off.

"Please, mom, can't we go?"

"Come on, you know that you haven't seen each other in ages, this will give you time to catch up."

"Yeah, we should definitely go," Lily said pleadingly. Somehow she had taken a great liking to Ginny in the few short minutes she had been talking to her. Hermione smiled; she couldn't say no to something that she also wanted very much to do.

"Alright, then," she said, "but I'm buying."

"No way," Ginny told her stubbornly, giving Hermione one of those looks that clearly said I'm-not-going-to-let-you-so-don't-even-try-it. Hermione sighed, throwing her hands up into the air.

"Okay, okay, if you want to," she said. She looked over at her children, who were both teetering eagerly on the edges of their seats. "Guys, go change your clothes—Lily, I'd like you to wear a skirt, please."

"But—"

"No buts," Hermione told her with raised eyebrows. "Go on, the sooner you're ready, the sooner we can go." Without another word, James and Lily hurried from the room, the door swinging shut behind them, and hurried across the hall and up the stairs. Just as James reached his bedroom door, he turned and smirked at Lily.

"Make sure it's a nice skirt, little Lilsie," he taunted playfully. A moment later he found a rather large pillow smacking him in the face, and it was Lily's turn to laugh as she closed her door and quickly pulled a long denim skirt and red sweater out of her closet, dressed hurriedly, and ran a brush through her hair. She met James (now wearing tan slacks and a navy blue sweater) in the hall, where Hermione and Ginny were already waiting for them.

"Alright," Ginny said cheerfully, "I don't know how to get there the Muggle way, but there's a convenient alley we can Apparate into—" a rather complicated Apparition later (Hermione hadn't known where they were, so Ginny had taken her to show her before both returned to the living room with a pop and taking Lily by the arm—Hermione had taken James) the four of them were walking the block over to a restaurant called _The Bistro on State_.

Over large plates of divinely prepared food, they talked and joked as if no time had passed at all, as if James and Lily had known Ginny for their entire lives.

Hermione was filled in on the activities of the rest of the Weasley clan. Mr. Weasley, as she found out, had been promoted and now managed the Muggle Relations Office, a rather important job, as they dealt with not only the misuse of muggle objects, but also with muggles who'd accidentally encountered bewitched artifacts or had nasty encounters with wizards. The Weasley family had seemed to grow exponentially while she'd been away; by the sound of it, the only Weasley who had not had at least two kids was Ron.

He had, as Hermione predicted, gotten together with Luna Lovegood (a/n I know that this is kind of weird, but he couldn't be with Lavender and I felt like Ron's significant other had to be someone that the gang was familiar with…anyway) and together had a son. To Hermione's horror, she learned that Luna had been killed about a year after the child was born by some escaped Death Eater who'd wanted to get revenge on Ron for sending him to Azkaban in the first place.

Even Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks had settled down in a house, surprisingly, in Godric's Hollow (where Harry also lived, coincidentally). Despite Lupin's protests that he was an old man, Tonks had still convinced him that children were a good idea, and according to Ginny he loved fatherhood. His oldest boy, christened Sirius James (a/n, yes, I know that it is cliché, but I simply couldn't think of anything else suitable), was due to start at Hogwarts the next month as well as Hermione's children.

Bill and Fleur, who'd had a child and was expecting another before Hermione had left, now had five children of their own, two of whom were already at Hogwarts. Fred had married Angelina Johnson, and George, a pretty Muggle woman who worked in a paper shop in the village they lived in and they had three children each. Charlie had married a woman he'd met in Romania, and Percy had (once his swollen head had calmed a bit) proposed to Penelope Clearwater.

Though the children all came together to go to Hogwarts, each of the seven Weasley children had chosen to settle in different places across the United Kingdom and Ireland. According to Ginny, Molly and Arthur Weasley held a family dinner every Friday in the summertime to gather the whole extended family at the Burrow.

"You should come," she said, trying to act casually. "Mum and Dad always said that you were like a daughter to them anyway, they'd love to see you and meet James and Lily." Hermione frowned, looking upset.

"Yeah, that would go over really well, 'Hello, it's me, Hermione, I was never dead and here I am showing up suddenly back into your lives.'" She stabbed a bit of chicken with her fork rather harder than she normally would have.

"Oh, come on, Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, smiling. "They'd love to see you again, I know they would, and your reason for leaving is perfectly understandable."

"If I waltzed into the Burrow, everyone would have a heart attack or faint."

"No they wouldn't."

"You did," she reminded her. "And you don't faint easily."

"That's just because I was so shocked." Hermione gave Ginny a hard look. Ginny shrunk back a little bit under her gaze.

"Well, I could tell them all that you were coming, that way they could prepare themselves before you ever got there." Hermione considered this for a moment. She wanted more than anything to see the Weasleys again; they'd been like a family to her ever since she had spent that first summer with them, and she missed them more than anything.

She looked over at her two children, who were sitting quietly in their seats and giving her hopeful looks. Lily looked at James, knowing that he would be just as uneasy as she about being thrown in to a difficult social situation, but she could tell that this was something that they'd have to do for their mother. Hermione smiled.

"Okay, then," she said, sounding relieved and happy. Ginny beamed.

"This is going to be so much fun! Lily, James, you're going to meet a lot of really cool people, but—"

"What?" Hermione asked, sensing a problem.

"Harry and Ron are away, they won't be there…" Hermione looked disappointed.

"That's okay, but they're going to be upset if I meet your family before they even know that I'm back."

"I'll send them an owl and tell them about it, it'll be no big deal," she said, waving her hand as though this were insignificant. Hermione looked skeptical, but she smiled at Ginny nevertheless. It was amazing to be reunited with the girl who had been one of her best friends at school and beyond.

"Alright, so this Friday at the Burrow?"

"Yes! This is brilliant!" Ginny said, nearly shouting in glee. She grinned, her eyes sparkling, at Lily and James. "Who wants cheesecake?"

* * *

End of the fifth chapter!

Review and tell me what you think. Ten points for suggestions on what I should call Ron's son…I've been thinking about it since I started writing this, and I still can't think of anything fitting—but you need to tell me a house if you want to claim the points!

Okay, to my reviewers:

All of you regular reviewers, I love you all! Thanks for your support—you rock my socks! Lol…I hope you keep reading, and Lilah lee, Harry will find out soon, probably in either the next chapter or the one after that.

Genelle: Thanks for reading! I'm glad that you really like it, and I'll definitely keep writing!

Thanks, all!

Callista Rose


	6. Reunion

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone in JKR's book series

Okay, I'd just like to say that I'm really impressed by the number of reviews and hits that this story is getting! It's amazing and awesome to receive positive feedback and affirmation that people are actually reading and liking this. I do have to admit, though, that I wasn't as pleased with the way I wrote the last chapter as I wanted, but I promise to do better this time!

On to the story…

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 6

* * *

The next week was a bit of a blur for James and Lily Granger. After Ginny had gone back to her own home, the two of them had stayed up, talking late into the night on Lily's bed. They agreed that the Friday dinner that they were to attend would be difficult enough, but it was a little disappointing that they wouldn't even get to meet their father and godfather.

Meanwhile, the two of them spent hours on end sprawled across the living room furniture and reading their schoolbooks, which both of them found very interesting. In fact, the twins were so engrossed in their reading that they hardly noticed when Hermione left in the early afternoon on that dreary, rainy Tuesday, saying that she had something she needed to do.

"Okay, mom," Lily said from her place curled up in an armchair.

"What time will you be back?"

"I don't know…I'll call you if I'll be too long. Make sure that you call my cell phone if you have any problems at all, okay?" The two of them tugged their heads out of their books and nodded.

"Okay, will do."

"Love you," she said, kissing them both quickly on the top of the head.

"Love you too, have a safe trip," they chorused, watching her disappear out the front door. A moment later, James frowned and turned to his sister.

"Don't you think that we should have asked where she was going?" Lily shrugged.

"I guess if she wanted us to know, she would have told us," she said before going back to chapter six of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One_. James wondered about his mother's whereabouts for another minute before shrugging and delving back into _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_.

Lily knew that they should have at least asked where her mother was planning to go when she burst through the front door three hours later and looked around, spotting them exactly where they'd been when she left. Lily and James, both engrossed still in their books, looked up, startled.

"Hey, guys, go get your coats and your shoes on, please." The two glanced at each other.

"Why?" James asked almost immediately.

"We're going to go to meet your grandparents." Two minutes later, though still looking confused, James and Lily sat seatbelted in the car on the way to meet Hermione's parents.

It turned out that that's where she'd been earlier in the afternoon; catching up with her parents. She explained all of this to her children during the half-hour drive to their Oxford home. The Grangers had been incredibly startled when Hermione turned up on their doorstep; Hermione's mother had fainted. After a few calming mugs of tea, though, they accepted Hermione's story without question (much to her relief) and began to eagerly ask when they could see their grandchildren.

And so, thirty minutes and several quiet explanations later, they arrived at the moderately sized Victorian-style home in which Hermione had spent the majority of the first nineteen years of her life. The rain still poured unceasingly, pattering on the tops of their heads as they attempted to shield their faces against the pelting drops of rain. They leapt up onto the front porch (which, thankfully, had roof over it) and brushed the water off of their faces and arms before knocking on the door.

"Shoot," Lily said, trying to dab the excess rainwater out of her wavy chestnut hair with the sleeve of her jacket. "Now my hair's going to spazz out and frizz."

"Boo-hoo," James said, but any comment that he may have been tempted to make about Lily's hair was pushed from his mind when a formidable-looking woman in a gray twill skirt and a pale rose-colored blouse opened the door. Her hair, looking quite as bushy as Hermione's own, was half-up and pulled back into a clip and she looked as if she could be rather bossy.

"Oh, goodness, there you are, my little darlings!" she exclaimed, both hands flying in front of her mouth for a moment before she swept both Lily and James up into a bone-crushingly tight hug, tilting Lily's glasses and pushing them painfully into her nose. By the muffled sound that James was making beside her (rather like a small mammal being trodden on), he was having difficulty breathing.

"Mum, you're strangling them!" Hermione laughed beside them. Lily was thankful that she'd said this, because a split second later, she had released them and swiftly kissed each child twice on the forehead before hugging Hermione and kissing her cheek.

"Well, it's raining kittens out there, so you really should get inside and warm up by the fireplace," she said, ushering them through the front door and into a hallway with sleek hardwood floors. The three of them removed their shoes at the front door, glancing around what they could see of the tidy house.

There seemed to be photographs and pieces of framed artwork adorning every wall and propped up on every surface. Many of them were artful shots of Hermione as a baby in a metal pail, a toddler running from behind, a schoolgirl at her studies. More depicted nature scenes, close-ups of objects, and a few that were quite blurry and that neither Lily nor James could clearly make out.

"Yes, John used to have quite an interest in photography," their grandmother said, noticing their interest in the photographs. "With some of them, however, I don't think he knew what he was doing," she added in a low voice, the corners of her lips twitching upward, a smile reaching her gray eyes.

"Where is Dad?" Hermione asked, helping the children to hang up their coats in the closet near the door.

"Oh, he's at the market picking up some things for supper tonight," she said, leading them into the sitting room, where a welcome fire was blazing behind a wrought-iron grate. "I hope you don't mind good, old-fashioned fish and chips." Lily and James grinned at each other; they had been waiting, ever since they'd heard of England, to taste the deep-fried traditional dish. Hermione had refused to make it for them, as she neither knew how nor wanted to fathom how unwholesome all of that frying could be.

"That would be lovely," Lily said with a smile.

"Yes, we'd like that."

"I thought you would," their grandmother said with a smile. "Hermione tells me that you've been wanting to taste it."

"She never made it at home."

"That's because nobody can make it as well as my mother can," Hermione said, grinning.

"Yes, well," said Mrs. Granger, looking quite bashful, "everyone believes that their own mothers' cooking is the best…" but she still looked pleased by the compliment. "Anyway," she said briskly, showing Lily and James to the loveseat by the fire and wrapping an afghan around them, "warm yourselves up, it's a cold rain outside, and I'll go make us some tea. Milk and one sugar still, Hermione?" she asked her daughter, who nodded.

"Yes, do you need help?"

"No, no, you rest there, I daresay that it's been a long week. How do you children take your tea?"

"Er—" James said. He had only had a bit of tea in his life, tea not being a huge thing in America. All that he knew was that his mother drank quite a lot of it, and that it was bitter without milk or sugar.

"Just sugar, please," Lily said, shooting her brother a laughing look.

"Same, thank you," he said lamely as he punched her arm under the afghan.

"It's no problem, no problem at all," Mrs. Granger said as she began to step out of the room. "When I get back, we'll talk. I want to know absolutely everything that I can about you."

* * *

"Mom, Lily, come on! If you don't pick out something to wear soon, I'm dragging you down here anyway! We're going to be late!"

"It's only one thirty," Hermione's voice floated, slightly muffled, down the hall. James let out an aggravated "tuh!" sound and made his way to his mother's closed bedroom door.

"I looked it up, and if Miss Weasley lives in East Brookshire, then it should take about thirty five minutes to get there from here," he called through the inch of oak door separating them. It was Hermione's turn to tut-tut at him.

"We'll be traveling by Floo powder," came her voice sounding slightly muffled, as though a sweater was being pulled over her face. "Which means that it will take us about ten seconds to get there, so we won't need to leave for another half an hour."

James groaned in impatience and frustration and went to bug his sister instead. At least he would be at least allowed into her bedroom to talk to her. He made his way up the stairs and rapped on her bedroom door.

"Come in," she called. James pushed the door open and found that she had three outfits laid out on her bed and was pacing back and forth, trying to choose one. "Hey, could you tell me which of these I should wear?" she asked without looking up.

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I'm just going to wear this," he held out his arms so she could better see his outfit: a pair of jeans with a white tee-shirt, an unbuttoned green plaid oxford shirt over it. Lily nodded.

"Okay, so casual elegance. I think," she walked up and down the row of clothes again, "that it'll be this one." She pointed at the center group, a pair of slightly flared khakis and a periwinkle blue fitted polo-style shirt. James shrugged.

"I don't care which you choose, as long as you pick something before the end of time." She rolled her eyes at him and replaced the other outfits in her closed.

"Whatever," she said, mostly because she couldn't think of anything clever to say in response. "Get out of here for a minute so I can change. I'll meet you downstairs." She quickly pulled the clothes on and slipped on her favorite pair of sneakers before hastening out the door. Hermione appeared ten minutes later, and soon enough James was standing eagerly near the fireplace with a fistful of glittering powder.

"Remember, it's 14 Oak Knolls Drive, okay? Just say it as clearly as you possibly can, and tuck in your elbows and you'll land in the right place." James nodded, took a breath, and threw the powder into the roaring fire, which turned an emerald color. He stepped into the flames, feeling a surprisingly light tickling sensation as the flames licked at his clothes.

"Fourteen Oak Knolls Drive," he said, loudly and clearly, and he suddenly felt as though he was spinning, faster and faster, through a whirlwind of dust and ash. He saw flashes out of different fireplaces, and was beginning to wonder whether he'd accidentally pass the one he was looking for when he began to slow down and, without warning, he toppled one the floor out of a fireplace.

Standing to brush himself off, he saw that he was in a warm room with royal blue carpet, some comfortable-looking plush furniture, and a tapestry hanging on the wall. He stepped aside to examine the room more closely when there was a sudden noise and Lily tumbled out of the grate, standing up and spitting a lot of ash out of her mouth and looking rather green.

"Oh, you're here," she said, sounding both very ill and very relieved, when she saw James in the room. "I choked on some ash at home in the fire and I was worried that I wouldn't come out at the right grate…" she stood to shake the dust off of her clothing and out of her hair. "Oh, look, here comes Mom now." She pointed at the grate.

The leaping flames glowed green again as Hermione stepped out, shaking soot out of her own bushy hair. She looked around and seemed immensely relieved to find both of the twins in one piece and in the same location.

"Oh, good, I'm glad that you both made it," she said, shaking a bit of ash off of her wristwatch. She pulled out her wand, muttered something, and the areas onto which the three of them had tracked soot and ash suddenly gleamed as if the flooring was brand-knew.

Just then, a pair of large blue-grey eyes appeared around a corner. Lily spotted this and nudged James in the ribs, jerking her head toward the spot. As he followed her gaze, the eyes grew larger and disappeared again. Hermione, who had seen none of this, gazed around at the photographs on the mantelpiece.

"So," James began, turning toward his mother. "What do we—" but he was cut off.

"Oh, I'm so glad that you all could make it!" Ginny said, striding into view and giving them swift hugs. "Eve said that she saw you come. How was it?" she was mostly looking at Lily, whose face still had an odd green tinge to it, with concern.

"Amazing!" James exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Nauseating," Lily said. Ginny smiled sympathetically.

"Yes, Floo powder is something that you rather have to get used to, isn't it? Well, come on in, make yourselves at home." She led them through the living and dining rooms of her house before making them all cups of tea in the kitchen and setting out a tin of shortbread. The quiet pattering of feet caused Lily to look up.

A girl stood in the doorway to the room who looked to be about her age. She had brilliant red hair that fell a few inches past her shoulders and large bluish-grey eyes. Her facial features looked very much like Ginny's own. This must be Genevieve, she thought, giving the girl a small smile. She froze upon seeing them all there, and turned to make a quick exit, but—

"Oh, good, Eve, I'm glad that you're here," Ginny said loudly, her voice containing a note that said quite clearly don't-you-dare-leave. "Would you like to join us for a cup of tea?" The way that she asked it, though, did not sound like a question. Shy as she was, though, Ginny's daughter didn't seem to be accustomed to being impolite, and so she somewhat grudgingly sat at the table, gave them what looked to James like a very painful smile, and pulled a cookie from the tin.

They sat there, drinking their tea, for another half hour. Hermione and Ginny were chatting away, sharing stories and trying to catch up from their eleven-year absence. Lily and James were soon involved in the conversation, too, and talked animatedly, trying to involve Genevieve as well. She seemed to be painfully shy, though, and would speak if she was addressed directly and in a soft voice.

When it was time to leave for the Burrow, Genevieve looked quite glad to be excused and the rest followed Ginny out into the garden of the house. Though dinner at the Weasley's was always served at seven o'clock, they had decided that it would be much less shocking for everyone if Hermione and her children arrived before anyone else came; that way, they would only have to face a handful of new people at a time instead of having dozens gawking at them.

And so they stood with Ginny (her husband and children would be joining them later) in her backyard. Wary of more Floo powder, Hermione and Ginny had decided to use side-along apparition as a means of transport. Ginny moved over close to where Lily stood.

"Here, Lily, put your hand on my forearm," she instructed as beside her James gripped their mother's arm tightly. "Okay, Hermione, we're going to land right in front of the chicken pen at the front of the house, can you see it?" Hermione nodded. "Good, let's go then." Lily watched closely as Ginny concentrated and took a sharp step forward.

Nothing could have prepared Lily for this. It felt as though she and Ginny were being sucked through a narrow tube. Her eyes felt as if they were being pressed into the back of her head, and all of her organs shifted strangely. A moment later, though, it had stopped.

"You can let go and open your eyes now," Ginny said from beside her. Opening her eyes, Lily saw that they were indeed standing beside a fenced-in pen of chickens and a few pigs. Beyond the pen, though, was the strangest house that she'd ever seen. It was narrow-looking, but had at least six floors that looked as if they had all been added at different times and made of different materials. It was so unsteady-looking that the other floors had to be held up by some sort of magic.

With a pop, Hermione and James (who looked slightly dazed) appeared beside them. Hermione smiled. It was exactly as she'd remembered the Burrow. It felt good to be back after so long. The four of them walked together up the dusty path to the front door, which Ginny pushed open with a soft creak.

"Mum," she called into the seemingly empty house, "we're here."

Almost immediately, a rather plump woman wearing worn-out mauve houserobes came flying down a twisting staircase that poked out of one walls toward them. She laid her eyes on Hermione and immediately burst into tears, rushing forward and pulling her into a bone-crushing embrace.

"Oh, Hermione dear, we were so worried….thought we'd never….that we'd never get to…to…" her voice trailed off shakily as she pulled away, still teary-eyed. She hastily wiped her eyes with a handkerchief she'd pulled from the pockets of her robes.

"I'm truly sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said sadly, wiping a tear from her own cheek.

"Don't apologize, dear, Ginny's explained it all to us already," she said comfortingly "You are an intelligent girl, and I trust your decision; I'm sure that I'd have done something similar if I'd been in your situation." Hermione nodded, and Mrs. Weasley turned, catching sight of the two children standing awkwardly near the door. They had been so quiet that she hadn't noticed them before. Hermione followed her gaze.

"Mrs. Weasley," she said, "I'd like you to meet my children, James and Lily," she indicated each in turn and they smiled at her as best they could through their nervousness. Mrs. Weasley swept them both into warm hugs, smiling at them fondly.

"Yes, Ginny's told me all about you two as well," she looked as if she wanted to hug them again but refrained from doing so, much to James' relief. "You sound like quite the young people, both of you. James, the resemblance that you have to your father and your grandfather is striking—your hair, of course, is slightly lighter—and Lily, the eyes! You have Hermione's face, though."

"Yeah," said Ginny, now smirking, "but they've both got Harry's teeth, thank goodness!"

"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed, though she laughed a little along with her friend. "That's not fair!"

"Why?" James asked, craning his neck to try to get a glance at his mother's teeth, which looked completely straight, white, and normal-sized. Ginny and Hermione laughed, though.

"Did you ever see older pictures of your mother, James?" Ginny asked, still chuckling. "Her front teeth used to be monstrous."

"They weren't monstrous, just a little large," she said, flushing a little. "Anyhow, it doesn't matter now, I ended up getting Madam Pomfrey to shrink them in the end."

"So, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley began; Hermione was grateful that she was ending that discussion. "James and Lily haven't seen the Burrow, so why don't you give them a tour? If you'd like, you can de-gnome the garden for me…really needs ridding of those monstrous annoyances. What do you two think?" she asked James and Lily, who both grinned back.

"We'd love to," Lily said politely. Ginny rolled her eyes, recognizing the diversion, and led the two kids out of the room. Mrs. Weasley hugged Hermione again, as if to make sure that she wouldn't leave again, and led her into the kitchen, where she made tea.

"Oh, Lord," she said, setting Hermione's mug of tea on the table in front of her and taking her own into her hands, sitting near her at the scrubbed wooden kitchen table. "I can't begin to tell you—" her eyes began to tear again "how difficult it was on everyone to lose you. Harry and Ron, most of all, they thought that it was their fault…they blame themselves, you know."

"Yes," Hermione said miserably, "I know them too well, I think that they'd only blame it on themselves. Ginny says that they aren't coming tonight."

"That's right, they're off on Auror duty somewhere or other, not expected back for Merlin knows how long," she sighed. "It's been hard, especially on his little boy." There was a pause. "He's off all over the place, still risking his neck when he could be at home with his son…I don't know, it's all so upsetting for both of them…" her voice trailed off and Hermione fidgeted in her seat. This wasn't really something that she wanted to talk about just yet. She sighed into her tea, which rippled as her breath passed over the surface. Mrs. Weasley seemed to understand the awkwardness of the situation.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear, I shouldn't have brought it up. At any rate, Daniel's been staying with Fred and his family for the last week or so, so you'll be able to meet him tonight." Hermione nodded.

Suddenly, there was a shriek from the backyard. She stood up so quickly that she nearly turned her chair over and hurried to the window. She saw that Lily was shaking her hand wildly as though it had been injured, James was attempting to kick a garden gnome and Ginny had dropped the bottle of Gnome-Away that she'd been holding to rush to Lily's side. Hermione dashed out the back door.

"What's happened?" she asked in a panicked voice, rushing over to where they all stood. James succeeded in booting the gnome clear over the hedges, and Ginny rolled her eyes at Hermione's reaction.

"The gnome bit me while I was trying to toss it," Lily said simply, holding out her hand for her mother to examine it. Hermione was relieved; gnome bites weren't serious at all.

"Okay, then, sorry I panicked. You two can carry on, it looks like you're having fun." James beamed, seizing another gnome by it's knobbly, potato-like head ("Geroff me!") and chucking it.

"We are, this is cool!"

"Yeah, honestly, mom, this is no big deal," Lily said earnestly and indicating her bitten hand. "You can go back inside and do whatever it is you were doing." Hermione gave them a small smile and walked with Ginny to do just that.

The three women chattered away, filling in the long gap that had occurred when they were separated. Finally, Mrs. Weasley jumped up when it reached five o'clock, shocked that so much time had passed at once.

"Goodness, I have to get cooking!" she said, hurriedly jamming pots and pans onto the stove.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Ginny, you and Hermione can set up the tables outside, and for now please keep out of the kitchen." She was now rolling homemade dough into a pie pan, not looking up from what she was doing. Shrugging at each other, the two women made their way out into the backyard, where Hermione saw for the first time that a barn of sorts had been erected on one side of the house.

"The broom cupboard wasn't cutting it for storage space anymore," Ginny explained as she pulled open the double doors wide and stepped into the large, dusty building. It was very large; Hermione saw that two cars were parked neatly inside, along with what seemed to be an ordinary muggle lawnmower, several brooms, racks of pest-ridders and a hodge-podge of other items. Stacked in one corner were six picnic tables.

"Will we need them all?" she asked skeptically. Ginny shook her head.

"Not tonight…I know that Charlie's away with his family in Romania doing some thing or other, and Percy (he's become some ambassador to South America) and his family has been living somewhere in Brazil. So that leaves—" she broke off, beginning to count on her fingers. After a moment, she gave up, throwing her hands in the air, "—a hell of a lot of people. I think that four tables should do it, though."

Ginny took her wand and began to levitate one of the tables and move it out the door. Hermione followed suit, though she hadn't used magic in so long that a corner of her table accidentally bumped into Ginny's. Ginny turned and, with a grin, redirected her table so that it bumped, head-on, into Hermione's.

It wasn't long before a full-blown battle was being fought between the two of them, with Lily and James shouting and cheering gleefully, egging them on more. Even they were too involved to notice several red-headed figures making their way through the yard to where the picnic-table scrimmage was taking place high in the air.

"You can do better than that!"

"Oy, Hermione, knock another leg off the thing." Hermione turned so suddenly that her table almost toppled out of the air. Two identical men, both with shorter, stockier builds and still-red hair stood before her; Fred and George.

Before she could react, she found herself swept up and sandwiched between the two of them in such a hug that she could neither breathe nor move and her feet lifted off of the ground. She laughed at the two of them, unable to cry, and they set her down.

"Geez, where've you been?" Fred asked, beaming at her and hugging her again (much more gently this time, thankfully).

"It's so good to see you both again!" George hugged her again as well, and he stepped back to look at her.

"You look okay," his twin announced, taking a step forward to examine her properly, still grinning madly.

"It's so good to see you again, Hermione," said a tall woman to the side of Fred. Hermione looked at her closely for the first time and smiled.

"Hello, Angelina," she said, "it's good to see you again."

"Oh, sorry, we need to introduce you to our families," George said, putting his arm around a pretty, willowy blond woman that she'd never seen before. "This is my wife, Marcia, and my children," he indicated three small children, the oldest about eight, and the youngest, around three or four, "Natalie, Wilbur and Caroline."

"And of course," Angelina said with a laugh, "you know me, our children—" who looked roughly the same ages as Natalie, Wilbur and Caroline—"Abby, Max and Robert," she indicated another boy, an taller, gangly one with red hair that curled on top of his head and almond-shaped brown eyes, "This is Ron's boy, Daniel." Angelina paused for a moment after each child smiled politely at Hermione, looking off behind her. "And I don't believe I've met you before," she said, directing her slightly raised voice toward James and Lily, who until that moment had been quite content looking on from the sidelines, silently taking everything in.

"Oh, I'm sorry, these are my children, Lily and James," she indicated each child, who gave shy smiles and murmured a greeting. Lily was suddenly very uncomfortable under the interested gazed of the three adults, but it was something that, like it or not, she was getting used to.

After the introductions were made (and Hermione gave Lily and James clear looks asking that they mingle), Fred and George helped the girls to set the picnic tables into place and lay out the plates and cutlery and James and Lily played an energetic game of freeze tag with the other children. Ginny's family Flooed in shortly thereafter, and when Bill and Fleur arrived with their own small mob of offspring (Arthur, Isabella, Claude, Jacque and Anastasia—ages from 14 to 6), the house was toeing the line of chaos.

Seven o'clock came quickly and all twenty-seven of them were seated under a clear, crisp blue summer sky. The tables nearly threatened collapse with the weight of all of the family (plus Hermione, James, and Lily) and a dozen pans of Mrs. Weasley's phenomenal cooking. As Hermione laughed and joked with Fred, George, and Ginny, James and Lily sat near the other end of the long table with the other children.

James, slightly nervous, loaded his plate with steak and kidney pie, salad and corn on the cob and listened to their conversations. Lily sat at his side, and she was having a rather animated conversation with Isabella, who was two years her senior, about France, while Eve and Daniel threw the two newcomers glances that were difficult to understand, a mix between curiosity and belligerence (though she couldn't figure out why).

"Oh, don't worry about them," Isabella said, following Lily's concerned gaze and rolling her eyes in their direction. "They can be shy to the point of hostility…it's a bit dumb, really, I don't know how they expect to make friends if they keep making people think that they don't like them." She said this in a pointedly raised voice, so as to make Eve and Daniel take notice. Eve's cheeks turned pink, but she continued to stare down at her plate as if nothing had happened.

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but James nudged her foot under the table with his own and shook his head.

"If they don't want to talk to us, don't force them too," he said being surprisingly understanding. "I mean, it's not like they had any say in us coming here, and I guess that it's messed up their normal Weasley family groove thing." He said all of this rather quickly and in an undertone to prevent anyone else from hearing too much.

He needn't have done anything to distract anyone, because it was then as they were all finishing their second helpings of the delicious food that a diversion walked through the yard toward them. Lily, who had been listening to James, heard a fork clatter noisily onto a dish and a sort of hush seemed to come over the group collectively.

And she didn't need to see her mother to know that it was she who dropped the fork, because a moment later she made the only noise of anyone at the table. Her eyes were fixed unbelievingly, and her hand flew over her mouth in shock. Breaking the strangely uncharacteristic silence, she uttered a single, shaky, inquisitive syllable.

"Ron?"

* * *

Okay, end of the chapter!

Review and tell me what you thought.

Thank you loads and loads and loads to all of my reviewers! Especially ribbons go to all of you who've stayed with me and my story for this long. You're grrrreat! To new reviewers kendallpaigecharity and terrenis-sama, thanks a lot! I hope you keep reading.

Anyway, though, I did have a bit of a competition going. A single person, james'nsiriusfan, responded to my question of last chapter and has earned ten points for Gryffindor, so…yeah. The standings are as follows:

Gryffindor: 10

Ravenclaw: 0

Hufflepuff: 0

Slythering: 0

Haha…we need more group participation here, people! Lol—

So the questions for the next chapter? Ten points are yours (for your house, of course) if you can tell my why Daniel and Eve seem to resent James and Lily (the reason's different for both of them).

Have fun! The next chapter will be up soon.

Adios!

Callista Rose


	7. Fury and Sound

I don't own anyone you recognize from JKR's books! Duh! If I did, I would be focusing more of my energy on the actual book I'm trying to write (which, incidentally, will share the title of this fic, so if you ever see one out in the next few years, you knew the author…lol).

Okay, as usual, notes to reviewers are at the bottom, as well as the current house points achieved. But now, we've got a new chapter!

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 7

* * *

_Her eyes were fixed unbelievingly, and her hand flew over her mouth in shock. Breaking the strangely uncharacteristic silence, she uttered a single, shaky, inquisitive syllable._

"_Ron?"_

His warm eyes focused on Hermione's face for the first time in over a decade; nearly twelve long years. Ron stood there wanting to go to her, but his feet seemed unable to move. Before she could think, Hermione had darted out of her seat and thrown her arms around him, sobbing into his chest (which James couldn't understand, as this was certainly not something to cry about).

"Hermione," Ron said softly, relieved, hugging her tightly. "Oh, my God. I can't believe it." Hermione pulled back a little, laughing through her tears.

"It's me," she said, voice wobbling slightly. "I didn't think you were going to be here."

"They caught the guy early, there was no point in me staying," he told her as she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Did you get—"

"Yeah, I cried when I read it, to be honest," he said, ears reddening. Hermione laughed.

"You did? He with the emotionality of a blunt axe?" He shrugged and looked at the floor, and she knew that he wasn't lying. She hugged him again.

"I guess we have a lot of catching up to do, huh?"

"Yeah. Can we sit, though? I'm starving." Hermione nodded, and as though everyone else had heard them (which, she knew, they probably had) one end of the table shifted down a couple of spaces. Before they sat, though, a blur of red hair came flying like a flaming cannonball into Ron's stomach.

"Hey, Kiddo, it's great to see you," he said, hugging the boy tightly. Daniel smiled.

"I'm so glad that you're back! I can't wait to tell you everything that's happened!" Daniel sat next to Ron at the table, across from Hermione, and carried over his plate and tumbler to join him. Hermione could tell that what Ron wanted more than anything was to talk to her, be with her, to hear her story, but she smiled to herself when he shot her a look that said "we have to do this later" and devoted his attention to his child, who was babbling incessantly in good imitation of Ron himself.

The rest of the evening flew by, and before Hermione knew it they were polishing second helping of homemade lemon tarts and the sun had long since set on the horizon. Several bewitched fairy lights (courtesy of Fred and George) fluttered over the long table, illuminating their faces in a warm glow. When little Anastasia's head nearly dropped off into her plate of dessert, Bill and Fleur gathered the rest of their children and bid the others good-bye.

"We will see each uzzer again, I 'ope, 'Ermione," Fleur said, giving her a swift hug as Bill prepared the fireplace for their departure.

"Of course," Hermione assured her, smiling, as she turned to leave.

"See you two later," Isabella told Lily and James, smiling brightly. "I'll see you next week, I hope?"

"If we're invited," Lily smiled.

"Definitely!"

"Of course you will be, your mom was like family and so are you. Bye!"

"Bye," they called after her retreating back. Soon thereafter, Fred and George gathered their own families, and Ginny—giving Hermione, Lily, and James hugs and promises to see them again soon—whisked her own husband and children toward the fireplace.

All that were left were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, Lily, James, Ron and Daniel, who made their way into the house to the scrubbed wooden table. Mrs. Weasley called the children into the kitchen to help with the dishes, giving Ron and Hermione a chance to talk alone (Mr. Weasley had already retired to bed).

What exactly it was they talked about, Lily never knew, because when the dishes were finished the three children were whisked upstairs to a room on the fourth landing and pushed the door wide open, allowing them to pass. They found themselves in a room that might have once been a bedroom, but was now a sort of playroom. The blue wallpaper was faded, and the walls were lined with shelves and cabinets on which books, games and other things were stacked.

"Yes, we needed to have a place where all of those grandkids could come to stay out of our hair when they came to visit," Mrs. Weasley said with a smile as James walked over to examine the board games; there were strange games that he'd never heard of—the Quidditch board game, catch the Muggle, Dragon Mountain—and ones that he was familiar with, like Life, Trouble, Twister and Clue.

"Muggle games?" Lily asked, examining a box for Monopoly. She nodded.

"Yes, Arthur's fascinated with them all, he used to come across them a lot in his work, unjinx them, and bring them home. I guess he's amassed quite a collection."

"Cool," James said earnestly. A large, circular table with several mismatched chairs sat at the end of the room near the window, and a vase of flowers stood in the center of it.

"Okay, well, I'm going downstairs to tend to some knitting, so I'll leave the three of you to bond. I daresay you'll be seeing a lot of each other from this point forward," she smiled at all of them. "If you need anything, you can come find me. Daniel will help you to get acquainted." With that, she turned her back on them and left the room, door creaking partway closed behind her. Lily turned to Daniel.

"So, what game would you like to play?" she asked kindly. He looked at the floor and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't care," he said.

"Well, which is your favorite?"

"It doesn't matter."

"There must be one—" she began, but he cut her off angrily.

"Look, I know that my grandmother says we're supposed to play together and be all chummy, but no matter how much she forces us all together, she can't make me like you." Lily looked appalled, and James, shocked. Neither knew what to say to him, which turned out not to be a problem, because a moment later he turned his back on them and left the room.

"Um…" James began, unsure of how he was supposed to react to this.

"Yeah," Lily said, sounding insulted as she sank into the nearest chair. She threw her hands up in confusion, looking questioningly at her brother. "I don't get it, what did I do?" James shrugged, wandering over to the nearest shelf and pulling a box off of it.

"You didn't do anything," he said, sitting next to his sister and setting the game onto the tabletop with more force than he usually would have. "He's just being a jerk."

"But why?"

"Beats me," he said. "Wanna play..._Match the Mad Muggles_?" He read the name off of the box and pulled the lid off.

"Sure," she said halfheartedly.

"Okay," James said, trying to cheer Lily up. She seemed to take Daniel's rudeness to heart, as some sort of personal insult. So the two of them began to play. Half an hour later, according to the clock—it seemed like hours—Mrs. Weasley came up to retrieve them.

"Where's Daniel?" she asked, eyes surveying the small room. James and Lily looked at each other apprehensively.

"We—we don't know," James said. "We think that he might have gotten tired and gone to sleep early or something." Lily looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing. Mrs. Weasley frowned slightly, and looked back at the two of them.

"Well, I'll look for him. Meanwhile, your mother would like to see you in the kitchen. You do remember the way back, don't you?" They nodded and she left the room, her footsteps resounding down the staircase.

"You didn't have to lie to her, James," Lily said, beginning to neatly stack the game cards and arrange them back in the box.

"I didn't lie to her, _Lily_," he replied, helping her to shove the pieces back into the box and put the lid on before sliding it back onto the shelf where they'd found it. "I just sort of…guessed where he'd be. I didn't say that I knew for sure." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she said as they pushed in their chairs and headed down the stairs. As the two of them emerged side-by-side into the kitchen, they saw that their mother and Ron were seated at the scrubbed table across from each other, with large mugs in front of them, as well as several crumpled tissues. Hermione smiled at them; her face was tear-streaked, which didn't surprise Lily at all, but by the look on James' face he couldn't believe how she could possibly be crying _again_.

"Hey, guys," Hermione said, gesturing them over toward her. "Come sit down for a moment. We'll be leaving soon, and you haven't been introduced to Ron yet."

"Okay, I'm James," James began, giving Ron a smile, "and this is my sister, Lily." She gave Ron a sweet smile, reaching her hand across the table. Ron shook it, looking amused, and moved on to shake James' hand, which he'd put out as an afterthought.

"It's great to meet the two of you," he said, taking a sip of tea from his mug. "But where has my son got to—?" but he needn't have asked, because at that moment, Mrs. Weasley arrived back in the kitchen, the corners of her mouth twitching upward.

"Daniel's fallen asleep in your old room, Ron," she said kindly. "You'll have to wake him before you go back to your house, though." Ron stood, nodding.

"Alright, then," he made his way over to Hermione and they embraced tightly. "It's been—well, I still can't believe it's you. I'm so glad that you're back." And Hermione knew that he meant it more than words could express. They pulled away and she kissed his cheek swiftly.

"It's great to have you back as well," she said. She gathered up Lily and James, who smiled at Ron, before the three of them made their way over to the fireplace.

"Goodbye for now, Ron," Hermione told him. He beamed at her and waved, retreating up the staircase to find his own son. Mrs. Weasley gave each of them a tight, warm hug before taking the pot of glittering powder off of the mantle and offering it to them.

"Thank you for everything, Mrs. Weasley," James said, taking a pinch of the powder, throwing it into the fireplace and disappearing into the flames.

"Yes, thank you very much for your hospitality. Everything was excellent, and I had a lot of fun." Lily also took a bit of the powder and disappeared into the emerald fire after her brother.

"It's been wonderful to see everyone again, Mrs. Weasley, thank you so much for everything."

"It's been a pleasure, really, dear. I'm so glad that you've come back to us," she said, her eyes beginning to tear. She wrapped Hermione in one last hug before she, too, had called out "Hampton Place," and disappeared from the Burrow.

* * *

Hermione opened her front door and looked up and down the street. She could see no sign of her children on this late summer's afternoon. It was dinnertime, and the golden rays of sunset blanketed the neighborhood as children's laughter resounded in the distance. Resisting the urge to send sparks into the air with her wand, Hermione stuck two fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly. 

Ever since they'd been in England, she had encouraged James and Lily to make some friends and play with the other kids in the area so that they could become better acquainted with them. Besides, as Hermione had said, just because they were magical didn't mean that they had to stop playing with muggle children; after all, all of their friends (to their knowledge) had been muggles for the majority of their lives. So they had taken to the idea and met a lively lot of children their age, where they had been getting together during the warm summer afternoons and goofing off, determined to get enough playtime in before school started up again and they had to resort to seriousness and studying.

Up the street, Lily and James heard their mother's whistle and looked up with a start, shocked that the day had flown by so fast. James quickly flipped off of the jungle gym bars from which he'd been hanging, and Lily began to climb down from the tree she'd been sitting in.

"We have to go," she said quickly to her neighborhood friends Sita and Jessalyn as she dropped to the ground.

"See you later, Lily," they called. She frowned.

"I doubt it, until next summer," she told them. "I leave for school tomorrow, and I won't be back until Christmas, and after that until the summer starts again." The two other girls dropped to the ground, Sita's long, black hair flipping into her face.

"That's right," Jessalyn said. "I forgot, my school starts again tomorrow, and Sita's. Where'd you say you were going, again?"

"The Chesapeake Academy," she replied quickly. She and James had decided that this is what they'd tell any muggles that they met, including their newfound friends. "It's in the United States."

"Oh," Sita said, looking disappointed. "I start at Reynolds, in Scotland, and Jess is going to be at Casterton School."

"At least your schools are co-ed," Jess said, making a face. "Casterton's all-girls. I don't know what I'm going to do!" Lily laughed.

"I'm sure that you'll live," she said. "Anyway, I have to go. Make sure you write me, all you have to do is give the letter to my mother, and she'll get it to me." They hugged, bidding their good-byes, and Lily left the park to find James leaning against an oak tree and waiting for her.

"That took a while," he observed, pushing himself up and walking with his sister back to their own home. "What did you do, exchange recipes or something?" Lily rolled her eyes and punched him playfully in the arm.

"No, of course not. But what about Jerry, Will and Clyde? Didn't you say good-bye to them before we leave?"

"Actually, no, I didn't remember," he replied with frown on his face.

"How could you not remember? We've been anticipating this since July!" James shrugged as they walked up the driveway and into the house, where the smell of homemade pasta greeted them.

"Hey, you two," Hermione said happily as the kids slipped their shoes off and made their way into the kitchen, where the table had already been set. The three of them sat down together, and Hermione began to dole spaghetti onto three plates. "How was the park?"

"It was fun, we mostly just goofed off a lot." James said this and began to shovel food into his mouth.

"It is kind of depressing to know that we won't see them until next year, though," Lily said, now drizzling dressing onto her dish of salad. Hermione smiled.

"That's all right, you know, you're both going to make so many good friends at Hogwarts. You already know Arthur and Isabella—"

"Who are both way older than us," James said softly.

"—and of course Daniel and Eve—"

"Who hardly count as friends," Lily butted in. "Come on, Mom, don't you remember that day at Diagon Alley?" Hermione's face fell slightly. She did remember.

After their children had been introduced and acquainted at two of the Weasley dinners, Ron and Ginny had insisted that Hermione come with Lily and James with the two of them, Daniel and Eve to do the remainder of their school shopping. She had obliged, and Lily and James had endured a rather difficult day.

Though they got on well with Ron and Ginny, who treated both of them like old friends, their children had treated them to silence for the entire day. Neither spoke a word to James or Lily, and Daniel even shot them a contemptuous glance (which James saw when he thought that Daniel was sure no one had been looking). Both of them suspected that Eve had by now overcome her painfully shy disposition towards them and had shown signs of wanting to talk to them, but every time she tried, something stopped her.

Needless to say, it wasn't as if James and Lily hadn't tried to be friendly all day. James had asked Daniel during their robe fittings at Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions (they had been placed onto adjacent stools) about which quidditch teams were good to support, but he'd been answered only by silence.

"Well, maybe they just need a little bit of time to come around," she told them sympathetically. "You two just sort of came into their lives without warning, and maybe all of the sudden change is too much for them for now. Besides, Ginny tells me that the both of them can be shy around people that they don't know—" James snorted into his glass of milk. Shy was definitely an underestimate in describing Daniel's behavior.

"Anyway," Hermione continued loudly over the sniggers from James. "The point is that at least there will be a few familiar faces. It won't be like when I went. For the first couple of months, I really didn't have any friends at all."

"Yeah," James smirked. "Ron's told us that that's because you were a bossy know-it-all." Lily tried to hide back a smirk of her own—she'd heard about the way that Hermione used to act, and found the stories about her school days amusing.

"Okay, so that's something that Ron would say," she retaliated, cheeks reddening in spite of herself. She put a bite of pasta into her mouth to save her from having to say anything else. She swallowed. "Are you all packed and ready to go?"

"Yep," Lily said confidently. "I've even got my clothes for tomorrow laid out." James nodded beside her.

"Me, too," he said, sounding excited. "I can't wait for the train, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight," he grinned at his sister, who grinned back.

"Try to, please," Hermione advised him. "Really. If you don't you won't be able to stay awake for the events of tomorrow." Her eyes twinkled. She didn't tell the children exactly how they sailed across the lake in tiny boats, or were sorted into their houses, or about the fantastic Welcome Feast.

"For the thousandth time, please tell us what happens!" James exclaimed from his seat, teetering on the edge of it.

"And for the thousandth time, no way," Hermione said, forking lettuce into her mouth. "It's a surprise, that's how it's always been. Even Daniel and Eve don't know, because it's no fun when you already know what happens." James stuck the last of his spaghetti into his mouth and cleared his plate from the table.

Hours later, he lie in his bed, turning nervously under the blankets and staring up at the darkened ceiling. He couldn't sleep. His heart was pounding too fast and too hard for him to rest even for a moment. Throwing the scarlet blanket off, he rolled out of his bed, put on his slippers, and crept across the hall to his twin's room. If he wasn't asleep, then the chances were that she would be awake as well.

Listening through the crack of the door that was slightly ajar, he knew that he was right; her breathing was much too quick for her to be sleeping. He pushed open the door and stepped into the darkened room.

"James?" came her voice through the dark in a whisper. She could make out the edges of his blurry silhouette from where she lay.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

"Nah, it's hopeless right now. Too much adrenaline," she said quietly back, curling her legs under her and sitting up so that James could sit on the bed, his back against the wall. Lily grabbed her glasses from the night table and flipped on her lamp so that she could see him properly. She drew her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them.

"Thinking about tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he said, absentmindedly plucking bits of lint from Lily's blue bedspread. "What else?"

"I know what you mean," she said sympathetically.

"It's crazy, though, I mean, a month ago we were, well, normal." Lily couldn't resist smirking at him.

"James, you were never normal."

"Hey!" he exclaimed. Lily giggled as a pillow flew at her head. She caught it and swung it at him playfully before stuffing it behind her back and out of reach.

"I know what you mean, though," she said seriously. "What if we aren't good at magic?" James had been worrying about this, too, and he gave a small frown of concern.

"You don't have anything to worry about there," he told his sister.

"How can you say that? We haven't even been there yet—"

"You've read half the spellbooks!"

"So have you!"

"That's true," James said, glad that at least the two of them were on equal footing. "But still, this isn't just a different school, it's a whole different _world_."

"No kidding," Lily said, wrapping her arms around her knees. "What if we aren't supposed to be there at all?"

"I was worried about that too," he admitted, looking sadly nervous. "It's cool, about the magical world and all, just what if we get there and we can't do a bit of it?"

"That's ridiculous," Lily said, beaming. "We can already do magic, we've done it about a dozen times. Remember at camp? And many times before that?"

"Yeah, but I've got a weird feeling that something's wrong…" his voice trailed off and Lily frowned in thought.

"Yeah, same with me…it all still seems so surreal, all of it, since our birthdays in July." They were both silent for a moment, lost in their own thoughts, until Lily caught sight of the small, glowing clock on the nightstand.

"It's late," she said. "We really should try to sleep." James rolled his eyes.

"I guess you're right. We're supposed to be up at seven tomorrow to get ready to go to the station." He hopped off of Lily's bed as she removed her glasses once more and flipped out the lamp.

"Night, James," she said, slipping under the blankets.

"Night," he returned, making his way toward the door. He hung back there for a moment. "Hey, Lily," he said quietly, voice carrying through the now-dark room.

"What?"

"I'm really glad that you decided to come to Hogwarts, too." Lily smiled, and she was sure that he could sense it even if he couldn't see her.

"Me too."

* * *

End of Chapter 7 

The next chapter will be Platform 9 ¾ and the very beginning of the arrival at Hogwarts. The Sorting, however, will take place in Chapter 9.

Which leaves these questions:

Who do you think will be the first person at Hogwarts who recognizes who James and Lily are?

Points also to whoever guesses (correctly) the first friend that the two of them make on the train—the first two people, leave your first and last names and I will create a character for you.

And finally, the last question: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Haha…jk.

To my reviewers:

**kendall-paige-charity**—ummm….not exactly…this really doesn't have anything to do with Harry, but you're awesome and for that, I award 5 points to Gryffindor.

**Lilah lee**—Not quite, the reasons are different, like I said, and Dan's runs a lot deeper than Eve's reason does. But you're close, and you're a great reviewer, so you get 5 points to Gryffindor.

**LADY DANIELLE**—Umm, all I can say about this is ew, gross, no way. The twins are definitely Harry's, and I loathe Malfoy, but I'll explain where he is later. Thanks a lot for your review!

**Elkat**—here you go! Thanks a lot for your review.

**Angelof flight1516**—Awww…thank you! That means a lot to me! So you get five points. And your answer for Eve is close, but again, not quite that complicated, so you can have 5 more points for that. Review again and tell me what House, or I'll just find another house to give the points to.

**Random person you don't know**—you're quite right, I don't know you…haha. Anyways, the answer for Daniel is an interesting guess, but not right. Your guess for Eve is sort of close, so you can have 5 points for the guesses to Gryffindor.

**Angewoman-13**—Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm really glad that you like it. I'll definitely keep writing…keep on reading!

**Goku-lover21**—That's okay, keep reading and enjoying the story! Here's your update…maybe you'll have better luck with these questions. Thank you so much for reviewing!

**Monk of the Neko**—thank you thank you, I'm glad it's up to par. Thanks for sticking with it.

**James'nsiriusfan**—haha, I hope you liked this part! You're an awesome reviewer, thanks a lot for sticking with me!

Which brings me to the current standings—

Gryffindor: 25

Ravenclaw: 0

Hufflepuff: 0

Slytherin: 0

And there are still outstanding, unclaimed points from Angelofflight1516 and Hermione-Potter-52036, and I think that if they go unclaimed, I'm giving the points to Ravenclaw (Hufflepuff can have the next batch).

Thanks a lot, you guys!

Hasta luego!

Callista Rose


	8. Journey from London

DISCLAIMER: I down own it if you recognize it from the books, kapische?

Okay, so without further delay, on to chapter 8!

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 8

* * *

"Good morning, sweetheart," a gentle voice resounded softly in Lily's ears from what seemed like a very great distance away. Slowly, she realized that this was her mother's voice, and it was not part of her dream (which had been a very strange one). She squeezed her eyes farther shut for a moment before she opened them a little bit.

She could see her bedroom half-filled with early morning sunlight, which streamed in around the blinds on her windows that had been pulled shut. Rolling over, she saw the blurry outline of her mother standing over her. Hermione smiled and handed her daughter her glasses.

"Morning, Mom," she said groggily. "Is it seven already?" Hermione nodded.

"Yes, it is. Come on, now, you need to hurry and take your shower and finish any last-minute packing that you have to do yet." Lily put on her glasses and realized that her mother's usually bushy hair hung sopping down her back and she wore a pink bathrobe.

"Okay, I'm going," she said, rolling out of bed rather reluctantly and grabbing the clothes that she'd chosen to wear on the train (flared khakis and an emerald sweater that matched her eyes).

"Breakfast will be ready when you're finished," Hermione called after Lily as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

"Okay," she called back through the door. Hermione couldn't help grinning to herself. Her children were finally going to be at Hogwarts! They, like her, would probably spend some of the best years of their lives there, and would probably make friends that would last a lifetime and grow to love all of the castle's secrets and oddities. She paused for a moment, contented with these thoughts, before turning to wake up her son.

Nearly forty-five minutes later, after good breakfasts of French toast and several last-minute dashes to bedrooms to check that neither had forgotten anything, the trunks were loaded into Hermione's car. Lily sat up front, and James and the twins' owls (whom they'd christened Ramses and Isis) were buckled into the backseat for the drive to King's Cross Station, which took a surprisingly short time.

Though James and Lily were excited about the excursion to Hogwarts castle to persue their magical education, they couldn't seem to feel anything except nervousness at the moment. Both had been uncharacteristically subdued from the time Hermione had woken them that morning.

"What's wrong, you two?" she asked them as they pulled out in front of the train station and began the search for a parking space—they were so early, however, that it wasn't too crowded.

"Nothing."

"Okay, I definitely don't believe that for one second," she said, pulling into the space and cutting the engine of the car. She sat there for a moment, still wearing her seatbelt, and glanced from one child to the other, reading the identical expressions of nervousness on both of their slightly ill-looking faces. "Are you nervous?" Lily and James looked at each other, then back toward her. They nodded simultaneously.

"Yes," Lily said, "but you must think that it's silly—"

"Of course not," she exclaimed, unbuckling her seatbelt and turning to look at them properly. "I didn't know a single soul when I first got on that train, but I ended up making a couple of friends before I even got to the school." She looked lovingly at both of them. "I understand what you're going through, and believe me when I say that you are going to have some of the best times of your lives while you're at Hogwarts."

"Okay," Lily said quietly.

"Okay?"

"Okay." James unbuckled his seatbelt rather reluctantly.

"Don't worry about it, really," Hermione said, opening the car door and stepping out to unlock the trunk of the car. The two children followed, retrieving their owls' cages and setting them on the ground while Hermione went to get trolleys for their trunks. Loading the luggage, the three of them wheeled the carts into the large station.

"It's only a quarter to ten," Hermione said, checking the large analog clock that hung high on the brick wall of the station. "Your train leaves in an hour and a quarter."

"That's okay, train stations are fun."

"Yeah, good people-watching." And so, on the children's insistence, they rolled their trolleys over to Platform 4 and sat on a wooden bench, watching the passersby run to catch the train that would soon be leaving for Dublin, Ireland. Hermione couldn't really see what they found so interesting about it all, so after twenty minutes she pulled them away and toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

With a careful glance around to be sure that they weren't attracting attention from the many muggles who now swarmed the station, Hermione ushered them twenty feet in front of the barrier. Upon seeing it, James grinned ear-to-ear, while Lily, throwing it a skeptical glance, tightened her grip on the trolley she was pushing.

"Can I go first?" James asked eagerly. Hermione nearly laughed out loud.

"Of course," she told him expertly. "Of course, you might run at it if you're nervous." James nodded. His face was set toward what looked to Lily like a very solid brick wall, and pushing off he broke into a fast run. Lily closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn't crash, but she looked up a moment later and saw that he had gone.

"Go ahead, Lily. I'll go with you, if you like," Hermione offered kindly, noticing the petrified look on her daughter's face.

"No, that's okay, I can do it," she said more confidently than she felt. Her face was set as she turned, head held up, and began to walk calmly toward the wall. She didn't want to alarm any muggles by running, and this way if the barrier decided for some reason that it didn't want to let her through she wouldn't crash into it.

Of course, she didn't have to worry about this at all, because a moment after disappearing through the brick on the other side, she emerged onto another platform entirely. A scarlet red steam engine plastered with large, glossy black letters that read _The Hogwarts Express_ sat on the rails, giant puffs of white-grey steam issuing from the smokestacks. She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked around.

"You made it," James said, grinning so excitedly that he almost looked, well, mentally challenged. Lily laughed.

"Of course I made it, you loony! It's not exactly hard, is it?" James shrugged, still smiling.

"There aren't a lot of people here yet, though," he said, and taking a look around the platform, Lily saw that he was right; only a handful of people were there, seeing their children off onto the train to school. One of them, a strange-looking woman with very short, dirty-blond hair and sharp nose, caught Lily's eye and smiled curiously. Lily was wondering whether to smile back before the woman turned back to her family.

"What took you, Mom?" James asked as Hermione came rushing through the barrier, clutching her mobile phone in her hand.

"I thought you weren't allowed to use those muggle things here," Lily pointed out, looking at the phone. Hermione rolled her eyes and tucked the phone back into her purse.

"Yes, well, that old bloke at the ticket counter kept throwing glances at me, so I had to pretend to talk on this so that it wouldn't look suspicious. I waited a while for a large group of people to pass between us before I could escape," she explained, sounding rather annoyed. James and Lily shrugged as if to say, "oh, well," and James started to say something, but he was interrupted before he'd even begun to speak.

"Hermione?" a woman asked curiously. Lily and James turned to look at her. Lily recognized it as the witch who was staring at her, at least, she thought it was; she wore the same clothes, but her nose had become more normal-looking and her hair was now bubblegum pink. Hermione laughed.

"Tonks, is that you?" she asked, though it was completely unnecessary. Though she was undoubtedly older, she didn't look it. She and Hermione embrace, and Hermione knew by the look on her face that nobody had said anything to her about being back in England.

"Oh, Merlin, it's really you!" She exclaimed in her usual jovially energetic manner. "You gave us a fright, you did."

"Well, I'm glad that you're completely back to normal, hair and all," she said through a smile, suppressing more laughter. As another family came through the barrier, the four of them moved off to the side.

"So, are these your kids, Hermione? I bet I can guess who their father it," Tonks said, chuckling.

"Oh, yes, this is my son, James, and my daughter, Lily." The two of them smiled at Tonks.

"Wotcher," she said pleasantly. "I'm, well, your mum knows me as Nymphadora Tonks, but I've since married Remus, well, the name thing can be sticky. Just call me Tonks," she told them , putting her hand out to shake each of theirs. Lily liked her immediately, and she could tell that James thought she was a cool person as well. "You have your mother's face and your father's eyes, Lily, and James—well, you seem like Harry through and through. Hair's a bit lighter, though, and you've got your mother's eyes."

"All right, well then," Hermione said after a moment, clearly wanting to speak more with her old friend. "Why don't the two of you go and find a compartment to stash your things in and meet me back here." Both rolled their eyes in her direction, but she gave them a look and they turned to find a compartment while Hermione and Tonks strolled off in the opposite direction.

With effort, James and Lily heaved their heavy trunks onto the scarlet locomotive and dragged them to a compartment near the back. Together, they hefted their trunks into the luggage rack, and tucked Ramses and Isis onto two seats. Sliding the compartment door open, though, they were nearly steamrollered by another large trunk, pushed from behind by a boy who didn't look much older than they were. He had neat brown hair and his grey eyes had a playful glimmer in them.

"Sorry about that, nearly mauled you over, didn't I?" he said with laughter in his voice, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Uh, yes, but that's alright. Those trunks can be heavy," James said, immediately taking a liking to the boy. "We can help you, if you like." The boy nodded gratefully.

"Thanks," he said. "My name's Sirius, by the way. I'm going to be in the first year."

"I'm Lily, and this is my brother James," she smiled, stepping over the trunk to get a better lift angle. "We're going to be first-years, too."

"So, would you like to share a compartment with us?" James asked amicably. The boy called Sirius smiled.

"Definitely! I don't really know anybody yet—well, yes I do, but they aren't here, at any rate. That would be great," he thanked them again and the three of them carried and dragged the trunk to the compartment until it was safely tucked in with the other two. They all left the compartment together and hopped off of the train.

"We've got to go and find our mother," Lily said, "but I'm sure that we'll see you soon enough." People were beginning to come through the barrier more rapidly now, and it was tougher to spot Hermione through the crowd. At last, James saw her and nudged Lily, both skirting the growing crowd to get to her. At last, they reached her side and Lily tapped her on the shoulder to say something, but she caught sight of a strange man that she'd never seen before and looked up, surprised.

"Hello, you must be Lily and James," said the man. His brown hair was streaked with grey, though his eyes were kind, and he looked to be several years Tonks' senior. Hermione caught the twins' wary looks and had to laugh.

"This is Remus Lupin," she explained, nodding in his direction. "He's Tonks' husband, and an old friend." James and Lily nodded, and Lily smiled.

"Pleased to meet you," she said politely, just as Tonks reappeared again through the crowd, with three children in tow. The one at the head of the line, whom James and Lily recognized, was the brown-haired boy Sirius. He smiled as he, along with what Lily guessed were his mother and siblings, approached them.

"Here they are," Remus Lupin said affably, "You've already met my wife, I see, and these are our children, Sirius, Clara, and Romulus," he introduced them each in turn. Sirius rolled his eyes and smiled jokingly.

"Yes, we've just met Sirius on the train," James said, grinning.

"Oh, have you? That's excellent," Tonks said, hoisting her youngest son, who appeared to be around six years old, onto her hip to avoid him wandering.

"Oh, James, look," Lily said suddenly, pointing in the direction of the barrier, through which a group of people had arrived. "Isabella is here, let's go and say hello."

Three quarters of an hour later, James and Lily gave Hermione one last hug and clambered back onto the train and leaned out of their compartment windows, waving good-bye as the train began to crawl along the tracks.

"Be good, please, and have fun!" Hermione said to them, walking with the train. "Write to me tomorrow, okay? I want to know all about the Sorting, and about your lessons and everything." The train picked up speed. "I love you both so much," she cried as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"We love you, too,"

"Bye!" The train was going too fast for her to catch up now, and James and Lily pulled their heads into the windows before the train rounded a corner and Platform 9 ¾ disappeared from view. They sat back into the black plush seats; the only other person that was currently in their compartment with them was Sirius.

After an hour or so of animated conversation, James and Sirius began to talk spiritedly about quidditch. Though Lily did like the game quite a lot, she became bored with the talk about it and decided that, since they were allowed to use magic aboard the train, she wanted to see if any of the spells she'd read about would work for her. Opening her trunk, she extracted her wand (ten inches, ash and dragon heartstring) and the _Standard Book of Spells_ and settled herself in a far corner of the compartment.

The train rumbled on through the sunny countryside, where the neat little farms all spread together like a large green patchwork quilt. Every now and then the train ran past a little forest, or over a river or canyon, but all was without incident. Around noon, there was a rattling noise outside of their compartment door which made the three of them look up with interest.

Outside of their compartment was a small, slim woman with blond hair who was pushing what looked like a large, treat-laden trolley. She smiled at the lot of them.

"Anything off the carts, dears?" she asked, and the three of them jumped up. Hermione had given each of them five sickles for sweets from the trolley, and after a minute all three were laden with Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor beans, and a supply of Pumpkin Pasties, which they spread on the seats beside them as they began to eat their lunch.

"James, do you want your sandwich?" Lily asked. "It's PB&J, I think." James nodded.

"Sure, thanks," he said, ripping open the packaging for a pasty. He looked at Sirius, who had an eyebrow raised. "Our mom packed us each a sandwich and we had to promise her that we'd eat them so that at least we'd have something with nutritional value." He rolled his eyes as the sandwich Lily had lobbed over from their trunks hit the side of his head.

"Yep, that's what my dad said, too," Sirius said, holding up a shiny apple that was nestled among the sweets. He hastily took a bite and chewed. "Not quite as nice as the sweets, though—well, except perhaps some of the Every-Flavor Beans."

"I agree," Lily said, tearing off a bit of her own sandwich and jamming it into her mouth. "But you know, your dad and our mom do have a point."

"Hey, guys, I know this is really random," Sirius began, "but why do you say the word 'mum' like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like 'Mawm' instead of just 'Mum.'" James shrugged.

"Just the accent, I s'pose," he said, "although—" but the sentence was interrupted by their compartment door sliding open.

A scrawny-looking boy with a hard pale face and bleach-blond hair that fell to his shoulders entered the compartment without invitation as the three turned their heads and looked at him uncertainly. He was followed by two hulking boys, one short and stocky with bristle-like hair, and the other was tall, looking rather like an overgrown weed with oily black hair. They stepped into the compartment, not bothering to shut the door behind them, and the blond boy glanced around at them with a cold face.

"So," he said. His voice was cold and drawling, and took Lily by surprise. "We thought that we would come and try to—_socialize_—with some of our fellow first-years, but now I see what's in this compartment—" his gaze narrowed at the sight of Sirius. He never finished this sentence.

"My name's Malfoy," he said to James and Lily. "Abraxan Malfoy." Sirius quickly turned his snigger into a hacking cough. Malfoy's cold eyes turned on him almost immediately.

"I wouldn't be laughing at my name, if I were you," he said, eyes flashing. "Not with what you've got for parents, a couple of blood traitors and a werewolf father." Sirius clenched his jaw, tightening his hand into a fist as if he yearned to jam it into the boy's mouth. He turned back to Lily and James. "You two seem of respectable parentage, though. What's your surname?"

James elbowed Lily to silence, but this was quite unnecessary. Lily instead looked back from one ape-like crony on Malfoy's side to the other. Malfoy, to James' surprise, noticed this and replied to his sister's glances with a lighter tone.

"Oh, this is Nott," he gestured to the piggish boy, "and this is Rookwood," he indicated the weedy one. "What are your names?"

"I'm James," James began cautiously. "And this is Lily." Malfoy looked the two of them up and down, and after a moment extended a hand to Lily. She didn't take it, and both she and James gave the boy cold, piercing stares, folding their arms. Malfoy looked extremely miffed.

"Fine, then," he spat. "Go on and make friends with riffraff like this," he jerked his head, sneering, at Sirius, who now had both hands balled up into fists.

"Shove off, Malfoy," he spat just as maliciously as Malfoy had. "You shouldn't be saying all of that tosh about good parentage, seeing as how your father's been in Azkaban nearly your whole life."

"I know a lost cause when I see one," he said coolly, trying to ignore this comment but cheeks tinting pink nevertheless. "C'mon," he muttered to Nott and Rookwood, and all three left the compartment and slammed the door behind them so hard that the glass rattled. Lily turned to Sirius, but James spoke first.

"What was that all about?" Sirius shook his head, fists and jaw still tightly clenched.

"That _thing,_" he said, sitting down across from James and Lily, "was the most loathsome creature I have ever had the misfortune to come across. His whole family's rotten to the core, they're all into this pure-blood mania, you know, like anyone with any connection at all to the muggle world is scum. He obviously didn't know who the both of you were, or he'd have spit on your trainers."

"He's a real jerk, all right," James agreed, sitting back in his seat. "I hope we don't see much of him again."

"I doubt it," Sirius said, unclenching his fists at long last. "His whole family's been in Slytherin for ages, and I doubt that he's much different."

"I hope not, if he's half as bad as his father was," Lily put in. "Our mother told us about when she was at school with his father—at least, I think it's his father—and he hated her because she was muggle-born, and said a lot of nasty things to her." James and Lily looked at each other darkly.

"If his father's in prison, he probably deserves it," James muttered bitterly.

"Well, at any rate," Sirius said, peering out the window, and then at his watch. "We should be arriving soon, so we'd better change into our robes."

In what seemed like a very short time later, the Hogwarts Express was screeching to a halt in the train station. A loud voice on the train announced that they should disembark and leave all of their belongings on the train, so Lily and James quickly shoved their muggle clothing back into the trunks and, with Sirius next to them, stepped off of the train.

"Firs' years over here," a booming voice called out over the mass of students streaming in a different direction. "Firs' years, come on now, all of yeh." Lily noticed that a giant of a man was sticking out feet taller than everyone else. His face was mostly a mess of shaggy black hair with a bit of grey, and he wore a heavy moleskin coat. Tugging at James' sleeve, Lily fought through the crowd to stand at the giant's feet.

"It's Hagrid!" Lily said excitedly. "I was hoping that he'd still be teaching here!"

"We don't know if he's teaching, but at least he's still gamekeeper," James said, grinning.

"What're yeh goin' on abou' down there?" Hagrid's hairy face was looking down, right at James and Lily. It suddenly dawned on them that everyone else, including Sirius, seemed too shocked and intimidated by Hagrid's sheer massiveness that they couldn't speak. Lily opened her mouth to answer him, but something strange seemed to be going on in the giant's mind.

"What're yer names?" he asked the two of them.

"James Granger."

"Lily Granger." Hagrid's face broke into a grin. He pulled both of them into a bone-crushing hug, and as he was so massive, it wasn't incredibly funny. He set them down after a minute and both were soon able to breathe again. An expression of confusion settled on his hairy face.

"But—wait—how's tha'—?" He became aware that the entire crowd of first-year students were looking up at him expectantly. "Tell me later," he bent down near them and muttered this, then straightened up again and cleared his throat importantly. "Righ' then, let's go, follow me."

They set off, walking for a long time. It was dark, and Lily thought that they must be walking through a forest, because left and right other students were tripping over tree roots and rocks sticking out from the ground. Suddenly, they rounded a corner and a space cleared among the thickly-grown pine trees.

Hogwarts castle sat up on a hill, brilliantly illuminated by the glowing, soft yellow lights in its windows. It's magnificent reflection was mirrored in a large, rippling black lake. Several people oohed and aahed before Hagrid directed their attention to a fleet of small wooden rowboats lined up on a long dock.

"Righ' then, all aboard, no mor'n four to a boat." Hagrid got a boat to himself, and Lily, James and Sirius were followed into their boat by a round-faced black girl with long, braided hair who introduced herself as Johanna Benton. The little boats set sail on their own and began to sail across the vast lake.

"Our mother's not dead, sir," Lily was telling Hagrid (he had pulled his boat quite close to theirs while she explained the story of her disappearance and return). She told him much of the story, James taking over in the middle to give his sister time to gaze around at the magnificent sight before they sailed into a little underground tunnel lit by flaming torches.

"…and so we came back to England so that the two of us could go to Hogwarts," James finished as the boats docked on a pebbly embankment and ushered everyone out of their boats.

"I know it seems foolish to ask," he said in a low voice, "but it your father, but chance--?"

"Harry Potter? Yeah," Lily said, grinning, as Hagrid led everyone up to a large door and knocked three times with his massive fist. It was almost immediately opened by a short little wizard wearing deep blue robes and matching hat, both spangled with gold stars. He smiled at the lot of them.

"Ahh, yes, thank you Hagrid," he said. "Come this way, please, all of you," he said, and without further ado they followed the tiny man up three flights of stone staircases, where they were left in a room off of what looked like the main hall. "Now, in a minute or two, we will go through the doors into the Great Hall where you will be Sorted into your houses. While you are here, your house will be much like your family within the castle. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Each has a noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. I'll come back for you when it's time."

He turned and swept out of the room, and the rest of them, who were all waiting in various states of nervousness (even James had gone slightly pale, and Sirius was staring off at one of the bricks in the wall), were left alone. Lily turned to her brother.

"Whatever happens from here on," she began, looking hard at him. James gave a nervous laugh.

"You sound like we're going to die or be separated or something," he said a lot more confidently than he felt. Lily opened her mouth to say something, but instead gave him a quick hug. It wasn't long before the short little wizard came back and beckoned them forward and into the Great Hall. It was magnificent, glittering in the light of thousands of candles hovering in the air, four long tables sparkling with golden plates, goblets, and cutlery. Hundreds of faces were turned toward the group of them.

When they were all in a line at the front of the Hall, facing the high table where the teachers were sitting, Lily noticed a beaten-looking hat that was patched, ripped, and quite dirty sitting on top of a three-legged stool. After a few moments of silence, a rip near the brim of it opened wide, like a mouth, and it began to sing.

_"I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat _

_I've served time out of mind, _

_And I was crafted for one job: _

_To put you with your kind. _

The Founders were people

_Each unique and all complex, _

_Difficult to understand, _

_More so to second-guess. _

I'll trawl your mind and character,

_To find your talents deep, _

_But you've no need to fear me for _

_Your secrets I shall keep. _

You might find friends in Slytherin,

_For those who flout convention, _

_They, cunning and ambitious folk, _

_Are strong without intervention. _

If Gryffindor, you have great courage,

_And be known for your valor, _

_Your gallantry and chivalry _

_Make red and gold your colors _

Yet Hufflepuff may be your place

_If you've a loyal heart, _

_Those Hufflepuffs, hard workers _

_Can set themselves apart. _

Last but not least, Ravenclaw

_Welcomes into its throng, _

_Those who call knowledge power _

_And with the wise belong. _

You hold a part of every house,

_Though strong may be your voice _

_And sure be your self knowledge, _

_I make the final choice."  
_

When the hat had finished singing, the whole hall broke into applause and little Professor Flitwick stood atop a small stool of his own so that he could be seen. He held a roll of parchment in front of him, called out, "Abood, Ricky," and the Sorting began.

"Benton, Johanna," the hat called, and the round-faced girl who'd shared a boat with James, Lily and Sirius stepped forward rather nervously and placed the hat on her head. Several seconds, later, the hat shouted,

"Hufflepuff!" The Hufflepuff table clapped enthusiastically at the arrival of a new student, and Johanna smiled, looking relieved, and joined their table. As the Sorting continued, Lily grew increasingly more queasy. She began to lose track of how many people had been sorted into each house

She knew that they had to be getting close—yes, they had just called "Finelli, Lisa," to the three-legged stool. She was declared a Ravenclaw, and Lily waited with bated breath, and sure enough—

"Granger, James," the hat shouted. Lily looked anxiously at her brother, who was making his way confidently to where the hat was, and put it on, where it slipped down over his eyes. Lily stood there, rooted to the spot and barely breathing, eyes round with anxiety. James took a very long time to sort, and for a split second she had a terrified thought that they would tell him he didn't belong anywhere and to get him on the next train back into London, but then the hat opened wide at the brim and shouted

"Gryffindor!" James shot Lily a grin, and his eyes read, "you'll be fine," as he made his way over to the cheering Gryffindor table and sat down.

"Granger, Lily," Flitwick's squeaky voice called out. Lily took a deep breath, her face set resolutely, and she walked up to the stool, hopped up onto it, and slipped the hat onto her head. As the hat slid down over her eyes, the last thing she saw was James, sitting at the Gryffindor table now, looking at her with the same anxious look she had given him just moments ago.

She could see only the black inside of the hat now. And then a tiny voice that seemed to be coming from the hat itself began to speak.

* * *

Oooh, I know, I'm evil…but I guarantee that you'll think I'm completely awful after the next chapter. Why? Well, you'll have to find that out for yourself, then, won't you?

Hehe. Okay, so this chapter is longer than the others have been, but that's because it might be a few days before I update again, I don't know. I have been packing for school, and I go there on Friday (it's a boarding school…yeah), so I don't know how much free time I'll have. By the way, since McGonagall is now Headmistress, the Deputy Headmaster (Flitwick) does everything she used to do as Deputy Headmistress. So she's there, but hasn't spoken yet.

I'm really glad that people have been asking me where Harry is. Because I definitely haven't forgotten about him. He's on an Auror mission, remember? If you really want to know where he is, I'll tell you: he's in Bolivia. There. Happy?

Of course not! He'll reappear, though, next chapter or the one after it. And yes, he does know about Hermione and James and Lily. Actually, it's not in yet, but Hermione's told both kids to write letters to Harry introducing themselves and such, telling them what houses they're both in, interests, likes, dislikes, that sort of thing. And Hermione's written to him as well, in addition to Ginny's original letter. Harry hadn't had time to write back, but I promise that they'll be reunited eventually.

Let's see, I don't have time to do individual reviewer things today, but I do want to give quadruple kudos to my loyal readers—Monk of the Neko, lilah lee, james'nsiriusfan, gokulover, kendall-paige-charity, and LADY DANIELLE—you guys completely ROCK MY WORLD!

I would, however, like to clarify something. Hermione and Harry are the parents of Lily and James. James and Lily's mother and father are Hermione and Harry. Not Ginny. Not Malfoy. Not even Colin Creevey. Harry and Hermione. I had a certain person—um—relentlessly guess a surprise parentage. There are no surprises with the genetics.

So anyways, a bunch more points were awarded. Nobody correctly answered my first question (the first friends that the twins would make on the train), but that was difficult. Though since kendallpaigecharity did mention it, she can have, um….five points for it. And as for the woodchuck question, that was a joke, but I got very creative answers to that one from Keman and Angewoman-13, so five points to each of you.

As for the second one, indeed, it was Hagrid. So ten points if you got it in one guess, and five if you guessed an either-or. So that's points to Keman, risel Salazar, Angewoman-13, Goku-lover21, and kendallpaigecharity.

So here are the current standings:

Gryffindor: 70 points (Whoa!)

Ravenclaw: 15 points

Hufflepuff: 0

Slytherin: 0

There are also 25 outstanding points from Keman and risel salazar, so you two need to tell me what house you're with, or those points, as promised, will go to Hufflepuff. The next batch will be split between Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

And since nobody responded correctly to have their own character, this is the last call. The first two to review with one correct answer and tell me your name and the house you want your person to be in will get characters. But only if you give all three of those things!

Okay, so the questions:

1. An unexpected friend? Who could it be?

2.You'll hate me for asking, but what house will Lily be in? And remember, I've already got this part of the next chapter written, so whatever you guess won't influence the story.

Why does the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher look so familiar?

Okay, that's all for now!

Ttyl

Callista Rose


	9. Casa Nueva

Okay, I'm really sorry for the delay…a further apology is after the chapter where the reviewer notes and current scoreboard is.

On to the next chapter, then!

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 9

* * *

"_Granger, Lily," Flitwick's squeaky voice called out. Lily took a deep breath, her face set resolutely, and she walked up to the stool, hopped up onto it, and slipped the hat onto her head. As the hat slid down over her eyes, the last thing she saw was James, sitting at the Gryffindor table now, looking at her with the same anxious look she had given him just moments ago. _

_She could see only the black inside of the hat now. And then a tiny voice that seemed to be coming from the hat itself began to speak._

"_Well_," the voice spoke, as if it were speaking to her directly into her mind and bypassing speech altogether. "_Another Granger, eh? Yes…difficult…very difficult…just like your brother, and your mother and father_…

"_But where to put you? Plenty of courage, and talent, oh, yes…a good and loyal heart…a hunger for knowledge…and a thirst to prove yourself_…

"_You'd do well in Slytherin…like your father would have…you've got his disregard for the rules_…_Or perhaps, Ravenclaw…your mother would have done well there, of course…that would suit you well, I have no doubt…with potential like yours, your aptitude for learning_…"

"As long as it's not Slytherin, please, not Slytherin" Lily thought desperately.

"_Not Slytherin, eh? Well, like your father, you know that Slytherin could help you to become great_…"

"Please, no, put me anywhere, Hufflepuff, even, just not Slytherin—"

"_No, no, that wouldn't do at all…you'd do well there, but not like you would in Slytherin or Ravenclaw…but very well, our time runs short. I think I'll put you in_..." The hat took a moment to make its final decision.

"Gryffindor!" Lily was so elated, so immensely relieved, that she hardly noticed that the hat had shouted this last word to the whole hall. She pulled off the hat and set it back onto the stool, beaming. The Gryffindor table was cheering and clapping as Lily joined them, sliding into a seat next to James, who grinned at her. Lily looked up at the high table and saw Hagrid give her the thumbs up, and a stern-faced woman in the seat in the middle, dressed in velvet purple robes might have smiled at her for a split second before the Sorting continued.

"I was really nervous," James said in a low voice as "Gudgeon, Ruby" became a Hufflepuff. "It took the hat so long to decide!"

"Well, the same with you," Lily returned, voice just as low. "It tried to put me in Ravenclaw and Slytherin, I was nervous."

"Same with me," he began, but stopped abruptly when an older student gave him a stern look. Instead, the two of them turned to watch as "Juraz, Wellington," became a Slytherin.

"Kalai, Sita," Flitwick called out. Lily stared as a girl with sleek black hair and large dark eyes made her way up to the stool.

"James, it's Sita!"

"I know, I see that," he replied obviously. "I thought she was a muggle." Lily nodded in agreement as her neighborhood friend placed the Sorting Hat on her head. A few seconds later, the hat called out

"Gryffindor!" Sita took off the hat and made her way, grinning, toward the Gryffindor table. They didn't have time to talk, because Flitwick called out the next person immediately.

"Lupin, Sirius," James watched as Sirius stumbled on his way up to the stool and was also made a Gryffindor. He slid, relieved, into the seat across from Lily as the sorting continued.

The hat had barely touched Malfoy's hair when it declared him a Slytherin ("evil git," Sirius had said), and his cronies Nott and Rookwood also landed themselves in Slytherin.

"Watson, Genevieve," Ginny's daughter timidly walked forward and placed the hat on her head. She was made a Gryffindor after several seconds, and her cousin Daniel Weasley also became a Gryffindor. Once "Yardley, Scott," had become a Ravenclaw, the Sorting ended. The hat and stool were taken away, and the feast officially began. As they began to load food onto their plates, Lily and Sita looked at each other.

"I thought you were a muggle!" they both said together. They giggled, and James looked back and forth between them, shrugged, and began to chat with Sirius instead.

"No, seriously, you said that you were going to school in the U.S." she said, frowning slightly.

"Well, you said you were going somewhere, too," Lily pointed out, helping herself to lamb and boiled potatoes. "But it makes sense, though, we couldn't really tell each other…we had to pretend to be muggles. But what about Jessalyn? She's not—"

"No," replied Sita, taking a sip of pumpkin juice from her golden goblet. "She's a muggle. At least, I'm pretty sure she it. She really is going to that Casterton School."

"You two know each other already?" a voice spoke from next to Sirius. Eve was looking over, timidly but curiously, toward Lily and Sita, her fork and knife now resting on the edge of her plate.

"Yes," Lily said kindly, smiling at her. "Sita, this is Eve Watson. Eve, this is my friend Sita Kalai, she lives down the street from us." The two girls smiled in acquaintance with one another. Lily was even more surprised when Eve began to converse with her, James, Sirius and Sita. Lily stole a hopeful glance over at Daniel, hoping that he, too, would make peace with them. He, however, was purposefully averting his eyes and pouring ketchup on his fried potatoes.

Their cheerful chatter continued—along with the meeting of the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly-Headless Nick ("I prefer Sir Nicholas, if you don't mind," he'd said indignantly when Sirius first identified him)—until after even the delectable tarts, puddings and ice creams had vanished, leaving the table and the golden plates and goblets sparklingly clean once more.

All of the older students, James saw, now had their attention turned solely on the High Table where all of the teachers sat. The formidable witch in the middle rose, and a hush fell over the Hall.

"I'd like to welcome you to another year of magical learning. I hope you've enjoyed our delicious feast, anthat by now, everything you've learned last year has been compacted in your brains to make room for all that you'll learn when classes begin tomorrow. For now, however, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish. You are now dismissed," she gave them all a smile. "First years, your house prefects will escort you to your dormitories."

At this, there was a great scraping of benches as everyone began to rise from their seats and file out of the Hall. A tall sixth-year boy and girl rose and the girl raised her hand high into the air.

"First years, follow me please," she called in a loud and commanding voice that carried over the heads of several other chattering students. "Right this way." James followed the crowd out into the entryway, Lily at his side. They found the girl again and followed her up flights of stairs, down long corridors, and even through a couple of tapestries on the wall. At last, they all arrived at the foot of the painting of a very large woman wearing a pink silk dress. She rose from the chair in which she'd been sitting.

"Password?" she asked in an important sort of voice.

"Meretrix dormiens," the girl, who'd introduced herself as Sarah Inny, replied, and the portrait swung forward to admit them. They climbed through the hole in the wall and found themselves inside of the warm-looking Gryffindor common room.

"Boys dormitories are up the staircase on your left, girls, the same on your right," the male prefect, Alex, explained to them. "Your things have already been brought up, and you'll see signs marking your own dormitories. Breakfast begins at seven tomorrow, and the schedules and mail arrive at eight." He said this and both he and Sarah disappeared up the stairs. The first-years lingered in the room for a moment.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, 7:15?" Lily said, turning to James and Sirius (Daniel had already gone up the staircase and out of sight).

"Yeah, that's cool," James said. He hugged his sister. "Night, Lil."

"Night, James," she said, and started up the staircase with Sita. They had gone up the long and twisting staircase (which made Lily sure that they were inside of a tower) and passed three large, wooden doors with placques on them (fifth, sixth, and seventh years) until, on a fourth landing, they discovered a sign: _First Years_. Lily pushed the door open.

She walked in, closely followed by Sita, and found that their three other roommates were already there. Eve, who was pulling on her pajamas, had a bed next to a girl with blond hair and a rosy face. Another girl, smaller-looking Asian girl with her short black hair pulled into a ponytail, had dark eyes and was lying belly-down on her bed, writing something. Upon their arrival, all three of them looked up.

"Hi," Lily said, smiling at them all. "I'm Lily Granger. What are your names?"

After their quick introductions (the two girls identified themselves as Sara Guffey and Annie Weng), Lily changed into her pajamas. Lying sprawled out on her bed, she began to write a letter to her mother.

_Dear Mom,_

_I'm in my dormitory now after the first day at Hogwarts. James and I have met Hagrid, and he seemed quite excited to see us. The weather was great for the boat ride over the lake, thank goodness, and the train ride was great. _

_I think that we've made an enemy without trying, though. His name's Malfoy, and he's got a couple of gorilla-ish henchmen and he's already made fun of Sirius for his parentage. I doubt he really knew who James and I were, because I'm sure he would have tormented us as well._

_I have met a lot of new people, and my dormmates seem like nice girls. Guess who else is here? Sita Kalai, from down the street! Turns out that she's actually a witch, so now she's here with me, and we're both in the same house!_

_Anyway, classes start tomorrow and I'll write to you after my lessons are finished. If you write to Dad again, tell him that I say hello._

_Love always,_

_Lily_

_p.s.—oh, yeah, I almost forgot; I'm in Gryffindor!_

"That's cute," James said the next morning over fried eggs, toast, and sausages at breakfast. He and Lily had swapped letters and discovered that both had written many of the same things.

"Thanks," Lily rolled her eyes. "Like yours was a whole lot different."

At that moment, there was a great rushing of wings as floods of owls poured into the high ceiling (which today was a clear, crisp autumn blue with a few puffy clouds drifting by lazily) and James and Lily looked up, startled. Not expecting any mail (as their owls were both safely tucked away in the owlery, they went back to their own breakfasts.

Both were surprised when a large snowy owl made its descent to land on the breakfast table between the two of them, a scroll of parchment tied to its leg. The owl held out its leg and Lily, untying the scroll, saw that it was addressed to both of them. James leaned in as Lily unfurled the tightly-rolled scroll to find a letter written in a hand that they'd never seen before.

_Dear James and Lily,_

_I am sorry that you haven't heard from me before now, and mostly because I haven't been able to come back and see you and your mother, whom I miss more than words can ever say. I'm in Bolivia at the moment, on an Auror mission. I can't tell you more in case Hedwig (she's my owl) falls into the wrong hands. I have no doubts about her reliability, but still, one can never be too careful._

_Your mother sent an owl to me with the letters that you both wrote—_

"Oh," James said in mild surprise. "I didn't know that she actually sent that…"

"Well, duh, why would she have asked us to write them if she wasn't going to send them? Come on, let's keep reading."

—_and I must say that I was both touched and amused. James, you've seemed to inherit my own sense of recklessness and untidy hair. Lily, my girl, you've got my eyes and, from what Hermione tells me, my smile and charisma (though I'm sorry to say that hers probably could have benefited you more). Both of you seem to share your senses of adventure with me, though—probably for the better—you've both got your mother's wits. _

_I don't know when this letter will reach the both of you, but I do know that, although we've never actually met, I love and miss you a lot. Please write back to me when you can—owls from loved ones over here are like gold—your own owls will know where to find me, though it is a very long journey. _

_Good luck at Hogwarts. I hope that you have as much fun as your mother, Ron, Ginny and I did when we were at Hogwarts (though it would be best if you had no unexpected interruptions from the Dark Side, as we did nearly every year). Make sure you try to find at least one secret passageway, and cause mischief when you can get away with it. I'm smiling for you now. _

_Love,_

_Harry Potter (your dear old dad)_

"Oh, that's cool!" James said, happily jamming a bit of toast into his mouth while his sister rolled her eyes.

"What did you get?" Sirius asked eagerly, peering over from his sausages.

"Letter from our dad," Lily told him, taking a swig of her orange juice.

"Really? That's cool. This is the first time that you guys have heard from him, right?"

"Yeah," James said, as Lily's mouth was now full of food. "We wrote to him before, though. Our mom made us write these getting-to-know-you letters…we didn't know she sent them, but we just got our reply." Lily swallowed.

"Oh, look," she said, nodding toward the end of the table, where a professor she had met only briefly made his way down the long table, handing out pieces of parchment to the students. "Our schedules are coming." Sirius and James grinned at each other. As much as they hated to study, they were eager to learn some real magic.

Eventually, a wizard with brown hair streaked with gray approached them and beamed. He held a stack of schedules and beamed down upon them, greeting them in a rather cheery voice. Sirius got a proper look at him and nearly spit out his pumpkin juice in surprise.

"Good morning," he said to them, smiling and sifting through his papers. "Hello, you three,"

"Dad?" Sirius said in mild amazement. "What are you doing here?" He asked this, of course, because Remus Lupin stood before them, wearing long black robes and passing out timetables.

"I am the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I know that it's a bit of a last-minute thing, but as Professor Tirentay called to say that she was taking the year off, I've been called as a replacement," he told the three stunned students. "I'm also the temporary head of Gryffindor House, so I deal with your schedules and coursework for the time being."

"So…we just call you Professor Lupin now, right?" He nodded and handed them each a schedule.

"Yes, indeed you do, Mr. Granger," he said, "though you don't have to call me Professor when we aren't in school. There you are." He turned to go, but stopped on a sudden whim. "By the way, Sirius—and you two," he added to James and Lily, "—congratulations on making Gryffindor. I'm proud of you."

He strode away again, robes breezing behind him as he moved on down the table to the remaining students. The three of them exchanged raised-eyebrow glances.

"I can't say that that wasn't a surprise," Sirius told them. "Geez, you think he'd at least tell me! I'm his son!"

"It is cool though," Lily said, glancing over her timetable. "Oooh! We've got his class first thing this morning!"

"Yippee," Sirius said monotonously, twirling his finger in the air as a sign of sarcasm.

"Oh, come on," James said, "we wanted to learn Defense a lot, didn't we? Don't worry about your dad teaching it. It'll be great." Sirius shrugged, and the three of them polished off their breakfasts and trekked back up to Gryffindor tower to find their books and things for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Potions—their first few classes of the day.

Two hours later, the first day at Hogwarts wasn't off to a bad start. Remus—er, Professor—Lupin turned out to be just as fine a teacher as Lily had heard he was from Hermione, and Professor Sprout, the Herbology witch, set them to work at once shelling the shiny pink peas from the puffapod plant. So, with a great deal of dirt under their fingernails, the three of them (Eve was walking with Daniel, who still refused to speak to them) made their way down to the cool, dark dungeons for their first-ever potions lesson.

Entering the dungeon where the lessons would take place, Lily found that the room was already aromatic, and four cauldrons were bubbling on the desk in the front of the room. It was at this desk that a very old-looking man sat, dressed in maroon velvet robes. He looked a bit like an overgrown walrus, from his long grey moustache to his bald head and squat, plump look.

"Ah, hello," he said cheerfully. "You must be the Gryffindor first-years, yes, I was expecting you," he said. James, Lily, and Sirius sat at a table with Sita and pulled their books out of their bags.

"All right," he said, pulling out a pair of Coke-bottle reading glasses and a sheaf of parchment. "Now, let me see, do I have Miss Watson?" and Eve raised her hand silently. The Slytherins were filing into the class now, and the professor continued the roll call. He took an interested pause at a few of the names (Sirius' and Daniel's included), but he gave a positively delighted "oh-ho!" when he arrived at James and Lily.

"Are you, by chance," he began, peering at them with extreme interest, "related to one Miss Hermione Granger, bless her soul," he added with a sorrowful shake of his head. "She was a very bright one, she was. Immensely stubborn, but exceedingly bright."

"Yes, sir," Lily said, kicking James under the table to stop him laughing. "She's our mother." From the scrunched look in his face, she could tell that their professor was doing some quick math.

"She's not dead, Professor," James told him. "She never was. It's a long story, really, but—"

"Would you care to tell it over tea sometime, both of you?" he asked them both. "Come see me after class and we can discuss this further, but right now we need to begin. My name is Professor Slughorn. I am head of Slytherin House and have been teaching here for longer than you care to know. Welcome to Potions class, please turn your books to page seven…"

And so they were off, first taking a page of notes, then setting about brewing a potion to cure boils. Soon the room was filled with steam and smoke. Lily was surprised to find that she rather enjoyed this, though it seemed that, though both James and Sirius were reasonably good, they weren't spectacular at all. When the bell sounded the beginning of the lunch break, everyone scrambled around to rinse and collect their things, while James and Lily (glancing at Sirius and telling him to save them seats at lunch) approached Slughorn's desk, where he waved his wand and three cups and a steaming teapot appeared in front of them.

"Sir?" Lily asked tentatively, but Slughorn's walrus-like face broke into a grin and he waved his wand again, causing two plush armchairs to appear and drop before his desk. James and Lily sat in them, both eyeing each other warily. Slughorn handed them each a china cup after pouring hot tea into it, then took one for himself, sitting back comfortably in his own chair.

"Very good, very good," he said. "Now, Hermione Granger's alive, you say?" Lily resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and say 'duh!'

"Yes, sir," James said with a quick sideways glance at his sister. "She left after the Final Battle. She thought her best friends were dead and couldn't stand to stay here, so she went to the United States, found out about us, and stayed there," he finished lamely. Slughorn seemed to study the two of them for a moment, first James and then Lily, surveying them with an appraising eye.

"Dare I guess who your father is?" he asked, taking what was supposed to look like a casual sip of tea. Neither answered. "I taught your mother and father, you know, and your grandparents as well. Lily Evans was one of the brightest students that ever stepped into this room."

"Wow," Lily said, "you taught them as well?" Slughorn chuckled.

"Yes, m'dear, I've taught here for longer than I care to think about. There was a break between, of course, but I've been at this castle for quite a time. Always taught potions…never could leave after Dumbledore…anyway," he said as James finished his cup of tea. "You'd better go, before you run out of time to eat your lunch. I'll see you at the next lesson."

"You know," Lily told her brother as they made their way back up to the tower after lunch. "I'll bet that if Professor Slughorn's still doing that club thing of his, he's going to invite us to be in it."

"Probably," James grumbled, not too eager for the idea. "Anyway," he began, brightening a little, "we have a meeting with Hagrid later, right after Transfiguration."

Transfiguration wasn't a disappointment at all. At the beginning of the lesson, Professor McGonagall turned her desk into a pig and back again, a feat that they learned they wouldn't be able to manage until much, much later in their magical education. They did, however, begin by turning matches into needles. James managed to halfway convert his on the third try, and ten minutes in both he and Lily had produced perfect sewing needles; they were the only two students to do so. Professor McGonagall gave them both a smile.

"Your mother would be proud of you," she said, handing back their needles. "You've clearly inherited her talent in transfiguration." They smiled politely in return, though they were only half paying attention, as both were eager to get down to Hagrid's hut.

Not even bothering to drop off their books, they left the castle and walked the grounds to the gamekeeper's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. As they skirted around the pumpkin patch and approached the door, there was a barking noise within the hut. Lily glanced apprehensively at James as the two of them walked up to the door and gave a knock.

The door swung open immediately, and they saw Hagrid's large, hairy, tangled face and huge silhouette in the doorway. He grabbed the collar of a large boarhound as it tried to jump on and lick them.

"All righ' there, James, Lily?" he said in his usual gruff voice, moving aside and allowing them inside of the hut. "This is Fang, by the way," he said, indicating the huge dog. Hagrid dragged Fang back by the collar and invited the two of them to sit at the large table, which was already set with three bucket-sized mugs and a platter of what looked strangely like chunks of tan cement. James sat in one of the chairs, followed by Lily.

"Thank you so much for inviting us, Hagrid," Lily said, smiling politely and trying to ignore her thoughts, which were strangely focused on the mystery things. She saw that James was also eyeing them suspiciously.

"Yes, thanks."

"It's not a problem," he replied, finally letting go of Fang, who wasted no time bounding straight at James and licking his ears. James began to scratch him behind the ears, with the effect that the great brown dog stretched out lazily on the floor. Just then the kettle whistled.

"Oh, tea's done," said Hagrid taking the kettle off of the fire, adding the tea leaves, and filling each mug with hot tea. "So, tell me all about yer firs' day at school."

* * *

Okay, there's Chapter 9!

I promise that in the next chapter the kids will meet Harry, and the twins, Harry, and Hermione will all be together.

Okay, so to my reviewers…

Terrenis-sama: Thank you, that's so sweet! Sorry it's been so long since the last update.

Kendallpaigecharity: Hmm…two either-ors, so you can have ten points for Gryffindor! I'll try to update again as soon as possible, but they keep us pretty busy here at school.

Hairapotter: Okay, thanks! Keep reading!

Lilah lee: Thanks! Yep, Lily's a Gryffindor, so you'll notice Sara the prefect, so five points for you as well. You're an awesome reviewer…keep reading!

Siberian-Tigress: Thanks a lot! Keep reading and I'll keep writing. I hope you're enjoying it.

RPYDK: haha I'm too lazy to write it so I'm abbreviating. Yep, so you get ten points for Gryffindor! Keep reading!

James'nsiriusfan: Thanks a lot for the luck, I'm gonna need it. They keep us pretty busy here, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Harry's in person in the next chapter, with a twist.

Risel Salazar: Good guesses! 15 points for Gryffindor then! Thanks a lot for reading, and I'm glad that you like it.

Kal's Gal: Here, again, sorry that the update took forever. They keep us busy here at school, so I'm going to have to write as often as I can during free time. Keep reading!

Kiyana Wisperwing: Hmmm…none right, but they were all good guesses. I hope that you keep reading and try for a right answer on the new questions.

Angewoman-13: None right, but you're such a great reviewer. Keep reading and guessing, you may just get one of these ones right.

LADY DANIELLE: Yep, Gryffindor is right! Five points to Gryffindor, then, for you.

So the scores stand thus:

Gryffindor: 120

Hufflepuff: 15

Ravenclaw: 15

Slytherin: 0

Questions for the next round…

Did you spot the Latin?

I've talked about a twist in the story…any guesses as to what might happen next?

That's all of the questions for this next chapter, I think. So that's about all.

Again, I apologize profusely for not updating, but when I moved into my dorm at school (It's a boarding high school), I couldn't get the stupid internet connection to work, so I wrote this and it's been sitting for a couple of days, but here it is now!

I'll try to put the next one up as soon as I can.

Until next time,

Callista Rose


	10. Another Battle

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with it (except for this story). I know, it's a sad, harsh reality, but hey, I'm just borrowing all familiar things for this story. I'll return them when it ends.

Yay! I've got over 4,600 hits for the story now, and over 60 reviews! That makes me very, very happy. Thanks to all of my reviewers, and even to those of you who read this but don't actually review (I still love that you take the time to read what I write).

Okay, so here's another chapter for y'all, and as usual all reviewer stuff is at the bottom of the page at the end of the chapter.

Enjoy!

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 10

* * *

It was mid-afternoon now, and the October sunlight streamed in through the large windows and gave a cheerful light to the unnaturally clean room. Several stories below, the leaves on the trees were now brilliantly gold and copper-colored, and in a few weeks they would break free from their hosts for good and drift far away on the crisp, gentle breeze. 

As a few weeks had passed, Hermione's worries about how her children were faring at Hogwarts—and away from her—had begun to dwindle with each letter that she received from them. As it had been with her, she knew that James and Lily both missed her, but were having fun at school with their friends and doing well there.

So Hermione herself, feeling admittedly lonely without the ruckus and company that her children had brought her for so long, began to immerse herself in her work and in the family and friends with whom she'd been reunited. It was comforting to her to know that, though she'd been gone for nearly twelve years, the Weasleys and her own mother and father were completely willing to take her back into their company.

She now spent her Friday evenings at the Weasley's, chatting late into the night with Ron, Ginny and the others over cups of hot tea and bowls of homemade chocolate ice cream. Harry had been kept away in Bolivia, where he was stationed in cognito on an Auror mission.

She took a sip of her tea and pulled a worn piece of parchment from her coat pocket that looked as if it had been folded and re-folded many times. Unfolding it with care, she smoothed it out to read the words that were written in Harry's familiar scratchy scrawl.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I couldn't believe it when Ginny wrote to tell me about you. I was so astonished, so stricken, so confused about what was going on to know whether it was really you that she was talking about, though her words were quite clear._

_You can't think, you could never even imagine, what it was like to lose you in that battle (or, rather, to think that we had). I blamed myself, and I know that Ron blamed himself as well. Neither of us mentioned that night very much, but we both sensed how the other was feeling. We've been friends too long not to. _

_Thinking that we'd lost you forced us rather unpleasantly to think about how much you mean to the two of us. It's like you're a part of us, Hermione, like the three of us formed one complete person. I've known for a long time that I was nothing without the two of you, and losing you for so long has made that reality hit home hard. _

_But you can't imagine my shock at finding out that you're back. Actually, maybe you can, as Ginny's told me that you thought that Ron and I were both dead, killed in the battle. As much as I'm angry that you did it so quickly, I can't blame you for running. I'm sure that I would have gotten as far away from there as I could. In fact, I was tempted to do just that, but Ron brought me back to my senses. _

_Ginny also tells me that I'm a father! This is something that I really can't believe…though I must say that I couldn't, even now, pick anyone better to be the mother of my children. That's extremely awkward for me to say, mostly because you're one of the best and closest friends that I've ever had before, and I don't want to change that._

_Thank you. It means so much to me that you named your children after my parents. I couldn't have ever asked you to do that, but thank you. Through them I have links to both my past and to my future as their dad. I can't wait to see them and hug them, to hold them in my arms for the first time. _

_Until then, though, do you think you could send a picture, please? I'd love to see them and hear everything that I can about them. I can't wait to see you for real again…I thought at so many moments before that I caught glimpses of your hair or your smile, or heard your laughter for so many years, it will be so good to see you again. _

_I'm out of time and parchment now. I can't wait to finally see you again._

_Take care of yourself, Hermione,_

_Harry_

She wasn't exactly sure how many times she'd read and reread that letter. She did know, however, that she missed her other best friend more than words could say. Hermione had immediately sent photos of James, Lily, and herself to him after his letter had arrived weeks ago. He hadn't written since then, but that no longer mattered.

Because he now lay, unconscious, in the painfully white hospital bed across from the chair in which she'd been sitting anxiously for several hours. He was older now, and there were a couple of shallow lines on his face that Hermione knew had come as the by-product of the stress and anxiety that Harry had experienced for the past twelve years.

But all of his other features were still the same. His nose was the same shape, his ears and chin, the same lightning scar across his forehead. Now, Hermione saw upon closer inspection, he had another, thicker scar a couple centimeters across his left cheek.

Hermione carefully folded the two sheets of parchment and put them back into her pocket, gazing sadly into her old friend's face with regret. If only she'd waited longer, or told him or Ron where she was going…she deeply regretted that she hadn't checked again to be sure that they weren't anywhere to be found before leaving.

But the past was the past, she thought helplessly, brushing away a stray lock of hair that had drifted in front of her face. She adjusted her position in the chair.

A soft creaking noise startled her out of her reverie. Her head snapped around toward the door and saw Ginny coming through it, a weak smile on her face and two cups of tea in her hands. She nudged the door open with her hip and stepped inside, lightly pushing the door closed with her foot.

"Hey," she said softly. "Sorry if I startled you." Hermione shook her head sadly.

"No, not at all," she said, returning her weak smile. "Thanks," she said as Ginny handed her a hot cup of tea and dragged a chair next to hers by Harry's bedside.

"Ron been by yet?" Hermione shook her head, sipping her tea.

"Not yet, he said he'd come by later, though." A silence fell over the two women again as they both looked at Harry, who still lay motionless in the bed, covered in a thin white blanket. They both sat like that for several minutes, lost in their own thoughts and pausing only occasionally to take a sip of tea and draw breath.

"Did you tell James and Lily?" Ginny asked very suddenly. Hermione shook her head.

"No, not yet," she said, and then she added (more to stop Ginny's tut-tutting more than anything else) "I don't want to interrupt their time at Hogwarts so soon. What good would bringing them down here do anyway? It's not like they can even talk to Harry yet; he doesn't have a clue that we're even sitting here now. It wouldn't make any difference in the long run to ship them back here."

"That does make a little bit of sense," Ginny agreed, "but how would you feel if you'd found out that your best friend was in the hospital and nobody had told you?"

"That's different," she retaliated, shaking her head.

"Yeah, with those kids, he's their friend and their father." Hermione sighed, clutching her tea mug in both hands. She knew that Ginny was right, and that normally she'd side with her on the issue. Somehow, though, this time was different.

"I know," she said, giving in. "I just really don't want to pull them away from their studies—"

"Yeah, there's the Hermione that we all know and love," Ron's voice came reverberating from behind them and both women turned around, realizing for the first time that he was there with them. He gave them both small smiles and pulled a chair around to the opposite side of the bed, sitting down in it backwards.

"I was just going to say the same thing," Ginny said, grinning. "Hermione, you of all people should know that there are a lot of things that are more important than schoolwork." This was true, Hermione knew. She had, after all, left Hogwarts forever after her sixth year, choosing love and loyalty over schoolwork. And then, it made sense to her.

"Okay," she said resolutely. "Okay, I'll go write to them now and tell them what's going on." She stood and, briefly placing her hand over Harry's in comfort, turned to leave the room.

"Better write McGonagall, too," Ron called after her, even though he knew that she'd already thought of that.

"I know, Ronald!" her voice came echoing in a disembodied way through the long corridor.

* * *

Lily should be studying. She knew that she should, after all, there was a big test on simple ailment draughts the very next day. But, she reasoned, she'd already studied earlier that day, the day before that and the day before that, so there was really no point in wasting more time. 

She took a look around the table at the library at which she was sitting with her friends. James seemed to be simply making faces at his own book, probably contemplating the same thing that Lily was wrestling in her mind. Sirius was squinting at his notes—as if closing his eyelids at varying degrees would somehow make the material more comprehensible—and mouthing something silently. Eve and Sita sat there, too, both poring silently over their own notes.

She suddenly closed her book and began to shove her potions things into her bag, the sudden noise causing James to look up. He grinned and rolled his eyes at her, following suit, and the two of them walked briskly out of the library.

"Yeah, studying is dumb," James said lazily, though a hint of laughter was audible in his voice.

"I agree. There are only so many times you can go over the same material. What time is it?" she asked suddenly, "I'm really getting hungry." James checked his watch. Lily, who wasn't much for jewelry, didn't wear one—hers was, instead, clipped to her bag, which she didn't feel like taking off of her shoulders.

"It's 5:00," he said in mild amazement. It was Saturday, and they had been studying since they'd finished lunch at one. "No dinner for another hour at least."

"Let's go to the Great Hall anyway," Lily said, "They've always got pretzels and pumpkin juice or something between meals."

"Not on the weekends, though," James said, shaking his head. "It stinks, but it's true." Lily frowned for a moment, and then, irritated, she shrugged her shoulders.

"C'mon," she said, pulling him down the corridor and through a large tapestry of dancing trolls. They emerged somewhere on the other side of the castle and went down a flight of stone stairs.

"And where, may I ask, are we going?" James asked his twin, eyebrows raised.

"We're gonna go and find the kitchens."

"Are you really that hungry?" he asked in amazement, but his question received no answer. They arrived in the basement, one floor up from the dungeons. It was warm and bright down here, lit with torches and adorned with several large, hanging tapestries and statues.

"It should be around here somewhere," she mumbled, now leaning to get a closer look at a tapestry depicting a large, succulent feast.

"The kitchens? How do you know all of this stuff?"

"Mom. And Hogwarts: a Revised History," James frowned.

"We both read that, and Mom told us the same stuff," he said, "how do you know all of this and I don't?" The corners of Lily's mouth turned up in a mischievous grin, now examining a large hanging of a bowl of fruit.

"I did a little bit of…supplementary research." She smiled and clapped her hands together. "Aha!" she exclaimed. She reached a cautious hand toward the tapestry and began to tickle the pear. To James' surprise, the pear in the tapestry giggled, and a door swung open behind it.

For a moment, Lily and James exclaimed identical glances of apprehension, but curiosity won over in the end as they carefully stepped through the door and let it swing shut behind them.

What they saw made their eyes widen in surprise. Scuttling around an extremely large room were what looked like dozens of house-elves, which until now they'd only seen pictures of. Many, many stoves and ovens were lined up against the walls, and four long tables, exactly in the positions of the tables in the Great Hall, were set with dishes and cutlery for the dinner hour, which wasn't due to begin for a couple of hours yet. Several preparation tables were arranged in the room, where a few of the elves were chopping and dicing vegetables feverishly. One elf made its way up to the two of them and bowed deeply.

"Sir and Miss," it addressed them, "is there anything that you be needing?" Lily smiled sweetly at him.

"Do you happen to have any éclairs or anything back there, do you?" she asked kindly, peering into the elf's large, almond eyes. Its nose was cuboidal, and it was dressed in a sort of uniform. In fact, James noticed, looking around, only a couple of them weren't dressed in the uniform. The elf before them bowed again and zoomed away. Moments later, a platter of éclairs and cream cakes supported between four elves.

"Do sit, sir and miss," the elf said, indicating a table and chairs to their left. Unlike much of the other furniture in the room, this table (along with two others, it appeared) were correctly proportioned for humans so sit at. The two of them sat and the platter was unloaded, along with a tea tray.

"Please don't call us that," Lily said, making a face. "I am Lily, and this is James," she told them. "What are your names?" Two of the elves left, but the other two remained.

"I is Binty," the familiar one said, bowing again. "I is only working at Hogwarts for eleven years, miss, after my masters were killed in the Great War." He bowed his head in respect of the memory of them. The other one, this one dressed in a very odd assortment of mismatched clothing, also bowed.

"I is called Dobby," he said, grinning a toothy grin at them. His eyes were large and bulbous, and his nose rather the shape of a pencil. Lily put out her hand.

"I'm pleased to meet you," she said pleasantly. The elf called Binty looked terrified, and Dobby, apprehensive, but he shook hands with her, and then with James. Lily took a plate and an éclair while James poured them tea. He offered some to Dobby, whose eyes began to shine with tears. Lily was afraid suddenly that he would start sobbing.

"I is sorry," he said, blowing his long nose on a pink and red spotted handkerchief. "But only three others have been this kind to Dobby, treated Dobby like _equals_," he shuddered at the very idea.

"Who?" Lily asked, though she thought she knew what he was going to say before the words left his mouth.

"Mr. Harry Potter, miss, and his Weezy and Miss Hermione." James and Lily beamed at each other, then at Dobby, who smiled at the memory of the three of them, then a tear ran down his nose and dropped off of the end of it and spattered on the floor. He wiped it up quickly. "I is sorry, miss, but Dobby misses Miss Hermione, it was most sad when—when—" he blew his nose again with a loud honking noise.

"Dobby," James began, "Hermione Granger isn't dead." The elf's head perked up, the baseball cap that teetered on it threatened to fall off. Dobby beamed.

"She did not die in the Great War?" Lily shook her head.

"Nope," she said thickly through a large bite of pastry. "She's our mother." The elf's eyes widened, making them look more like large green tennis balls than ever.

"You is the children of Miss Hermione?" Dobby asked them in awe. They nodded.

"Yep," James said, smiling. "And Harry Potter is our dad," he said to the elf before Lily had the chance to stop him At this bit of news Dobby looked like he was going to zoom through the roof. His rather ugly face split into a wide grin, and he began bouncing on the balls of his large feet.

"You is Harry Potter's children!" He exclaimed in disbelief. Turning her head, Lily saw that several of the other elves had stopped their work to stare at the two of them. She very suspiciously placed the half-eaten cream cake down onto the plate in front of her. After a moment the bustle resumed and James took another éclair from the stack on the table, taking a large bite to save himself from having to talk.

Ten minutes later the two of them were making their way back up to Gryffindor Tower, laden with extra éclairs and sweets that Dobby and the other elves had insisted on giving them. It was only after they promised Dobby to tell Harry and Hermione hello for him—and allowed him to come and visit them in the common room—that they left the kitchens back through the fruit bowl tapestry.

James and Lily had just turned into the corridor along which hung the portrait of the Fat Lady and the entrance to the Gryffindor common room when they were stopped by someone calling their names.

"Lily," Sirius shouted from behind them, "James, wait up, guys." He jogged to catch up with them, clutching a stitch in his side and panting. He held a slip of parchment in his hand, which he held out to them.

"What's up?" Lily asked.

"Professor McGonagall found me in the library after the two of you had left," he explained, leaning against the stone wall. "She said to find you as soon as I could and to give this to you." James took the parchment from Sirius and unfurled it. Lily looked over to read it too.

_When you have received this letter, come to my office immediately. Make sure you are wearing Muggle clothing, and be sure to bring a coat for the cold. _

_Professor M. McGonagall_

"That's weird," Lily said, sounding nervous. "What do you think she wants?"

"I dunno," James shrugged. "But by the tone of the letter, it's got to be something important. We should probably get going, then," he said to Sirius, who nodded.

"I hope everything's okay," he said, wishing them goodbye and good luck before setting off back down the corridor.

Quick as she could, Lily threw open her trunk and dug toward the bottom for her Muggle clothes. She quickly pulled on a pair of jeans, top and a rose-colored sweater before dashing back out of her dormitory and meeting James, who now wore jeans and a blue sweater, at the foot of the staircase.

They set off directly toward Professor McGonagall's office before they realized that they weren't quite sure where it was. Lily knew that it was, she thought, on the third floor, but she'd never actually gone there before. It was, therefore, very lucky that they ran into Nearly Headless Nick on the fourth floor and he kindly pointed them in the right direction. They soon found themselves, with Nick's help, in front of a very ugly stone gargoyle. The two of them stood, looking at it questioningly for several moments.

"You'll need the password," the Headmistress said, descending a spiral staircase that had magically opened right from the wall. Jams and Lily glanced at each other, and McGonagall beckoned them to follow her up the winding staircase until they came to a landing. They pushed open the heavy door with the large brass griffin-head doorknocker and entered the office.

A moment later they were hit with a wave of bushy brown hair as their mother hugged them both at once. She kissed them both atop their heads and pulled back to examine them.

"Mum!" James said, embarrassed to have his mother hugging him in front of the Headmistress of the school. Hermione smiled at them, but Lily could tell from the faraway, sad look in her eyes that something was wrong.

"Mum?" she asked with a small smile. "So you've finally got the accent down, have you?"

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, her green eyes boring into her mother's brown ones as if looking for the truth. Hermione sighed.

"Your father's back." James frowned.

"But that's a good thing, right?" Her eyes began to well up with tears and she turned away from them, blinking hard.

"He's been injured, badly," she said. Lily gasped and James' mouth fell open in concern.

"But—" he began, but Lily cut him off.

"He's going to be okay, isn't he?" Hermione shrugged as a tear fell silently down her cheek. Professor McGonagall patted her arm comfortingly and offered her a handkerchief, which she accepted gratefully.

"I hope so, sweetheart," she said, "but there are no guarantees. I came here to see if you wanted to come to St. Mungos with me. That's where he is at the moment, and Ron and Ginny are there too—"

"I'm coming," James said instantly. He slung his bag more securely over his shoulder and looked up at Hermione. "When can we leave?" He threw an expectant look at Lily, who frowned in contemplation. "You can't seriously be considering not coming," James said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not," she said, "just…thinking…we're going to miss a lot of work and stuff here…"

"Miss Granger, you hardly need to be concerned about your grades," Professor McGonagall assured her from behind her desk. Hermione beamed. "Yes, you are quite the image of your mother when she was younger."

"Okay,then," Lily said, smiling again. She secured her knapsack and she and James stepped closer to their mother. "When can we leave?"

"Right now," Hermione said, taking a small flowerpot off of the mantle of the fire that roared in the Headmistress' grate. "Just say 'St. Mungo's.'"

James and Lily stepped closer to the fire and James took a pinch of shimmering green powder, throwing it into the fire and stepping into the grate. He called out the destination and disappeared into the whirl of emerald flames.

"Thank you, Professor," Lily said, smiling at McGonagall, who returned the smile. She wished Hermione and Lily both the best of luck as the two of them disappeared, one after the other, into the green flames and emerged again in the large marble lobby of St. Mungo's Center for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Within minutes, they had scaled the staircases to the floor where Harry was being held and, with Hermione's help, they found his room. Before they entered, though, Lily paused.

"Mom," she began, "what are we going to see when we go in there?" Hermione sighed.

"They have an intravenous line so that they can give him fluids and potions, but that's all really," she told her daughter, hand on the doorknob. "And he's a bit bruised and has a couple of cuts on his face." James and Lily nodded, faces set. Hermione pushed open the door.

It was late afternoon and the pre-sunset rays were streaming in through the large window. The room, Lily saw, could house three occupants, but at the moment the only bed she saw was the one in which her father lie.

She couldn't take her eyes off of him. He was tall, she could tell, though not as tall as Ron was. His hair was untidy, like James', and she knew that if his eyes were open they would match her own. She recognized Harry Potter from the photographs in history books and the ones with her mother and with Ron and Ginny, but now he looked a little bit different.

Older, almost. He had a few fine wrinkles in his face, but not so many that he looked like an old man. The thin, lightning-bolt shaped scar was still etched on his forehead, and he had a large cut across one cheek and sported a shiny black eye, which was swollen and puffy.

She spent so much time looking at him that she hardly noticed that Ginny and Ron were standing at the back of the room and talking with Hermione about something, leaving the two chairs at the bedside vacated. Lily dropped her backpack to the ground and sat in the nearest chair and James followed suit.

"Do you think he can hear us?" James asked. Lily shrugged.

"Maybe," she replied, "I know that some people who are in comas in hospitals can tell when they have visitors." James nodded. He put his hand on top of Harry's and began to speak.

"Hey, Dad…"

* * *

Yay! End of chapter 10! 

Okay, guys, I'm really really sorry that I haven't been able to update in forever. But I haven't abandoned you, I promise. School has been absolutely insane, though. It sucks, but there isn't a lot I can do about it.

So anyway, reviewer feedback:

THANKS FOR REVIEWING!

Haha, I know, I'm ripping you guys off. Next chapter you can have individual comments, kay? I do have to say that random person you don't know's review made me laugh out loud.

For the first time, nobody was able to answer the questions (gasp!), so I guess that this time I'll have to make them easier. The twist, obviously, was Harry's fatal wounding. With the Latin, I was looking for a translation; meretrix dormiens means sleeping prostitute. So now you all know a bit of Latin. As for the new questions:

Will Harry live? If you think so, go to question 2. If not, go to question 3…

If you think he will, who will be the first person he sees when he wakes up?

If you don't think so, what will Hermione's first move be after his death?

Which couple will be the next to become pregnant?

Okay! Have fun with those ones for now 

The scoreboard, of course, will remain as it is until more people get questions right!

Ciao, amigos

Callista Rose


	11. Emerald Green

DISCLAIMER: you know the drill. I wish I did, but I don't, and I'm not claiming to. Don't sue me. Period.

Okay, I am endlessly sorry that I haven't been able to find the time to update…it's been a very long sequence of events (one of which was my struggle to pass calc 2), and explaining that would be longer than this chapter itself.

Anyway, I fear that I've lost a good number of my readers because of the time delay. So that makes me sad, but it's really my own fault. I did make a promise that I would finish this fic, and I do not plan on breaking that promise.

So, after god knows how many months of abandonment:

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 11

* * *

James sat bolt upright, awakened by a loud _CRACK_, like the sound of a whip. It took him several moments to make sense of his surroundings, but looking around he saw that he was back in his own bedroom. Throwing off his blanket, he saw that he was still in the Muggle clothing that he'd been wearing the previous day.

The previous day, he realized, eyes widening with the realization. Quickly, he changed his clothes and bolted across the hall and into his twin's room, not even bothering to knock. He found her already awake, hopping on one foot in an attempt to pull on a sneaker.

"You hear it, too?" she asked him, now moving to run a comb through her hair and pull it into two braids.

"Yeah," James said. "Lily, how did we get back here?"

"I dunno…Mom must have brought us back here, but we should be at school! Or at the hospital…but why we're back home—"

"We need to find our mother," he said, not waiting for her to finish her thoughts. "Grab your stuff."

"Just a moment, let me just fin—" but he had already disappeared into his own bedroom. She finished the second braid and looked around the room for her knapsack, which she located at the edge of her bed. Grabbing it hastily, she met her twin in the hallway and both dashed off to their mother's bedroom.

But there was no one in it. No hint that the bed had been slept in, and nobody to be found in her bathroom, either. The two exchanged glances.

"This is creepy," Lily said, voicing what James was thinking as the two of them bolted off down the stairs. Nobody in the office, dining room, or den. Only when Lily pushed open the door to the kitchen did they find a sign of life in the house, for Ginny stood making tea, toast and eggs. She turned and gave them a small smile.

"Hey, I figured that I'd make breakfast for the two of you so you'd have it for when you woke up. Sit down and I'll fill you in," she said, doling out scrambled eggs and toast onto three plates and sliding two across the kitchen table to where the two stunned, curious children had taken their seats. Lily jumped up to retrieve the butter and jam from the refrigerator, and James poured each of them a glass of milk while Ginny brought over a tea tray and cutlery from a drawer.

"Where's our mother?" Lily asked as James reached across the table for a fork. "At the hospital?"

"Yes," Ginny nodded. "She's there now with Ron, and she asked me to come back to check on you too and take you back to St. Mungo's when you're finished with breakfast."

"Great!" Lily said as James began to eat his eggs at top speed. Lily hastily took a large bite out of her toast. "I'm done." Ginny laughed.

"That doesn't count," she joked, "you haven't even swallowed it yet! Slow down, please, you don't want to make yourselves sick, too."

"Ok," James said, still eating at top speed. Lily began to spread butter and jam on her half-eaten toast, and her brother soon followed suit. Ginny poured them all cups of tea.

"How do you take your tea?" she asked them. Lily and James glanced at each other and grinned. Until they moved to England, they didn't know that there were different ways that they could drink tea.

"One and a half sugar, no milk, please." Both said in unison. Ginny grinned.

"Finally know how to drink tea, eh?" she asked with a smile. "You've come a long way, I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," Lily said as she took her cup of tea from her godmother, who was now sprinkling salt on her eggs.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were traversing the corridors back at St. Mungo's Center for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Turning into his father's room, James saw that his mother was fast asleep, head drooping onto Ron's upper arm. His head turned as they entered the room.

"Hey…how are you two?" James shrugged.

"How's—how's he doing?" Lily asked, hoping to hear of some improvement. Ron sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Okay," he said. "He has improved a little…some of the treatments have begun to take effect, which is good. But if he doesn't get better fast, this one—" he gestured at Hermione, who was still sleeping, "—wants to try some crazy Muggle treatments on him." He rolled his eyes.

"His face looks better," Lily observed, moving closer to the bed and leaning over.

"Yes, that's thanks to some Healing ointments, and a bruise-remover courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," Ron chuckled. James looked at his sister, confused, but quickly saw that she couldn't offer him any answers.

"Oh, they were here?" Ginny spoke from behind them. Ron nodded.

"Yes, they came 'round and brought tea and some pastries for us…they left just half an hour ago, actually."

"I'm sorry that I missed them," Ginny said. A soft noise caused them to look around—Hermione was beginning to stir. She groggily lifted her head, and Ron flexed his arm.

"Good thing you're awake," he joked. "I don't know how much longer my hand could have gone without blood flow." Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Hey, guys," she said, noticing that her children were back in the room. They crossed the room to give her a hug, and she held them tight. "Here, we should get up and stretch our legs a bit," she said to Ron.

"Right," he nodded, and the two of them left the room to discuss something with Ginny, leaving the children at Harry's bedside, where they took their seats. Lily, who sat closer to Harry's head, glanced down at her watch.

"What time is it?" James asked.

"It's almost eight o'clock," she said. "We have a Potions exam in two hours."

"Oh, forget about the Potions test, it's not important," he said. When Lily gave him a skeptical look, he added "I'm sure the Professor McGonagall's told Slughorn about the situation."

"And knowing him, that shouldn't really be a problem," Lily nodded in agreement. "I'm sure that he wouldn't care if we never took the test at all," she laughed, and James grinned.

"Hey, don't say that too much, or I might start to think that that's actually a possibility." They exchanged glances and smiled. After a few moments of silence, an overcast look came over James' eyes.

"What?" He shrugged.

"I dunno…it's just…well, what's going to happen? How long are we going to be out of school? What if…what if," he began, voicing a fear that Lily also harbored, "if he never gets any better?"

For a moment, neither knew what to say to the other. Both simply gazed down at their father, Harry Potter, a man whom they knew only through stories, photographs, and a single written letter.

"I don't know," Lily said honestly. It was a question she really didn't want to know the answer to, and one that she knew would only be shared aloud between her and her twin—neither dared voice the thought to their mother. Hermione was under too much emotional strain already.

Once the question had been brought up, it hovered ominously over them both. Several minutes later, Lily decided that they needed to distract themselves, so she pulled out her Defense Against the Dark Arts book and began her two feet of parchment essay on the yeti. James followed suit, both of them occasionally glancing up at their father lying, still motionless, on the hospital bed.

They sat like that throughout the day, moving eventually for Ginny and Hermione to take over sitting in the chairs. James and Lily settled themselves on the floor with their books still open in their laps. Nobody quite seemed to care how much time had passed, but visitors kept popping up throughout the day.

It was around ten o'clock that Lily got so sick of people she didn't know staring at her, seeking out her eyes with their own to see if it was true, she slammed her book shut and dragged her things down the hall to the lounge. She sighed and spread her things comfortably over a table, sitting down to complete her essay in peace. And this way, she figured, she was at least a room away from the distractions.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" James stood in the doorway, knapsack over a shoulder and History of Magic book tucked under his arm.

"Sure," Lily shrugged. "What brings you here?"

"I got sick of people looking at me…I didn't know who any of them were. Plus, I think that Mom was starting to get uncomfortable explaining, you know—"

"Us? To everyone?"

"Yeah, that about covers it." Lily cleared a space at the table for him.

"History of Magic?" James nodded.

"Yep. How far are you?"

"I have two inches done, you?" Lily asked him as he sat down and opened his book, taking out his quill and inkwell again.

"I've got my name at the top of the paper," he said, grinning. She smiled back.

"Way to go," she said approvingly. "At least we know that you can't have lost points on it yet."

"Yes, but I also haven't gained them, either," he laughed, taking a look around the room. It was a nice one, with a handful of round tables and sofas to sit in, a small table piled with old copies of _Witch Weekly Magazine _and _The Daily Prophet_. A small machine in the corner advertised tea "however you like it, courtesy of St. Mungo's. Complimentary biscuit with each cup." Sunlight streamed in through two large windows, so there was no need for other lights.

"Nice place…is this the tea room?"

"Yep," Lily answered, writing in another neat sentence. "Come on, that essay isn't going to write itself." He rolled his eyes.

"Okay _mom_," he said, smirking, but he soon turned his quill back to the parchment and began to write.

One Herbology essay later, Professor McGonagall dropped by to give James and Lily their homework for the day and confirmation that Professor Slughorn would be happy to let them take their potions exam at a later date. The two of them exchanged glances and fought the urge to laugh. As the Headmistress turned to go, she stopped in the doorway.

"I hope that everything turns out well for you two," she said, a brief look of pity fleeting over her eyes.

"So do we," James said.

"Thank you, Professor," Lily said as she turned to leave, robes swishing gently around behind her as she walked out the door.

"That was weird," James told her in a low voice. Lily frowned, leaning forward across the table to be able to hear him better.

"Why? She just came to bring our work."

"_She _came, Lily, the Headmistress of Hogwarts," he raised his eyebrows pointedly. "Why?" James felt slightly ruffled by his sister's unconcerned shrug.

"She was _also _a good friend of our mother's and father's, _and _a fellow member—" she lowered her voice to a whisper, "—of the Order of the Phoenix." Lily returned her voice to its normal volume. "She probably wanted an excuse to visit, if nothing else." James didn't look completely convinced, but he nodded slowly.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense."

"What makes sense?" Both of them turned to see their mother standing in the doorway. She gave them a weak smile, entering the room and taking an empty seat at the table where her children sat. It was the first time that Lily and James had been able to look at Hermione closely in the last day or so. Lily saw that she looked both tired and worried. She had dark circles under her eyes, which seemed to have lost some of their usual sparkle. Glancing quickly over at James, she knew that he had seen it, too. Hermione, who seemed unaware of their sweeping gazes, looked from one to the other.

"Hey, are you ok?" The twins snapped out of their own reverie.

"Yeah, we're fine," James said, frowning. "You, on the other hand, look exhausted." Hermione gave a small smile.

"I've been here for…a while," she finished, not wanting to admit to herself that she had been keeping an eye on Harry every moment that she could since she learned of his admission.

"The entire time?" Lily asked, though she already knew the answer. "Mom, you've got to get some rest. Please."

"Why don't you go home and sleep for an hour or two, maybe take a hot shower."

"Yeah, it will make you feel loads better."

"And you know that when Dad wakes up, you aren't going to want the first glimpse of you in 11 years to be after you haven't slept for days," James said with a slight smirk on his lips. Hermione's face broke into a smile. She knew that they were right.

"And Ron and Ginny will still be here, right?"

"Well, Ron will," she said, thinking for a moment, "but Ginny had to go in to work today for a few hours, and she needed to do some things at home as well. But since Ron is not on duty and Daniel is in school, he can stay with you…let me talk to him."

And so in the middle of the afternoon, Hermione left St. Mungo's with a quick hug and kiss to each of her children. She also had a quick word to Ron about having his head if he didn't take care of her kids, after which he sprang into mock salute and assured her that she had nothing to worry about.

"Behave," she told James and Lily, though she knew that she had nothing to worry about. "And let me know _as soon as possible _if there is any change in his condition, even if it is," she bit her lip, "not good." Ron nodded.

"Definitely, Hermione," he said sincerely, reassuring her. "Don't worry about it." Hermione gave him a small, trusting smile before turning and leaving the room.

A quarter of an hour later, James and Lily had gone back into their father's hospital room. Harry Potter still lay, unstirred, on the bed without indication that he would come 'round any time soon. They sat in the chairs at his bedside, a small table pulled between them. They had begun a game of wizard's chess, with Ron watching them appraisingly.

As one of Lily's knights barbarically took out James' last bishop, a noise caused them all to laugh: James' stomach gave a loud, hollow rumble. His cheeks reddened as he placed his hand over his stomach as if to try to silence the noise. Ron checked his watch.

"Well, you should be hungry," he said, smiling. "It's nearly one-thirty, and I'm hungry too. Can you two hold down the fort while I grab something for us to eat?" Lily nodded.

"Definitely. Thanks, Ron," she said, clearing the broken bishop from the chessboard.

"Yeah, thanks," James told him, looking up. After Ron had left the room, James stood as well.

"What, one busted bishop and you're quitting?" Lily joked.

"You only wish," James said, grinning back. "I'm just going to go and find the bathroom."

"Hurry back! I can't wait to kick your wizard tush," Lily called to her brother's retreating form.

"Only in your dreams," his voice floated back through the door as his footsteps pattered down the hall. Lily turned to the chessboard for a moment, plotting her next move. She thought of going to get a cup of tea from the next room, but decided against it, instead choosing to wait for Ron to return with lunch.

Readjusting her chair, she gazed for the dozenth time into her father's face. Hesitating, she rested her right hand on his left, which lay still atop the blanket. Harry's hand was tough and callused from years of work as an Auror. His breathing was slow and consistent, a good sign. His pulse and blood pressure were normal, but still he lay unresponsive. Lily sighed.

How different were her life, James' life, her mother's life been had she not run? If she hadn't left so soon? If Harry and Ron had found her before she made her decision to run? She had imagined growing up in England, in the wizarding world, ever since she found out about her parentage and the story behind it. She could have grown up in that world, with dozens of people who loved and cared for her, who wouldn't have treated her like a freak.

But Lily knew, as she absentmindedly stroked her father's hand as she'd seen her mother do so many times in the last day, that her mother had done the best she could, and that she wouldn't have traded those last 11 years of her life for anything. She and James had grown up happily with their mother and a few good family friends, and she knew that neither of them felt as if they missed out on anything.

Well, not really. Except for the whole growing up without a father thing. But now their father was back, and it hit Lily that there was a very real possibility that he would never come out of the coma. She looked around at the door, wondering how long it could have possibly taken her brother to find where the toilets were.

And then, very suddenly, Lily felt her father's hand suddenly move beneath her own.

"Dad?" She heard the steady beeping of the heart monitor quicken as Harry turned his head slightly on the pillow. And for the first time, his eyelids fluttered open and Lily looked into a pair of emerald eyes that matched her own.

* * *

"Is it true?" Hermione asked, breathless, as she quickened her steps down the wooden corridors of St. Mungo's. "Is it?" Her voice carried an urgency that was not to be ignored. Ron Weasley grinned beside her, his long legs easily able to keep up with her rapid pace.

"Very much so. Harry's awake, and your kids—_his _kids—are in there now, meeting their father for the first time."

"I have to see him," Hermione resolved. They were approaching the door now, and she could see that it was still partially ajar. Hurrying toward it, she could hear giggling and faint laughter. Her hand hesitated at the knob for a moment before she pushed the door the rest of the way open and stood in the doorway cautiously.

Hermione could hardly believe the sight before her. Lily and James were talking animatedly, both still affixed in chairs at the bedside, to their father for the first time. Harry Potter was sitting in his bed, propped on his pillows, also with a smile on his face. The noise that she had made upon entering the room caused their heads to turn. As Harry's eyes found Hermione's, his smile widened, eyes glittering in both joy and disbelief.

"Hey, 'Mione," he said in a soft, croaky voice. Hermione wasn't sure if his voice was hoarse with emotion or just because he hadn't used it in a while. She also didn't care. Eyes welling with tears, she made her way over to the side of the bed not occupied by her children. The two of them were staring so intently at each other that neither noticed Lily and James quietly slip out of their chairs and out of the room, closing the door behind them for privacy.

"I—I can't—" she began, her voice breaking with emotion. She could not tear her brown eyes away from his green ones. Slowly, she reached out her hand and gently caressed his cheek.

"Neither can I," Harry said, shaking his head slowly from side-to-side, as if to make sure that this was completely real. "Hermione…it's been…"

"Way too long," she finished, tears now streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Again," he said, "I don't see why you are crying." She hit him playfully on the shoulder, laughing through her tears. She threw her arms around his neck and lay her head on his chest, tears now absorbed by his hospital gown.

"I'm so glad you're back," Hermione told him, lifting her head and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. She sniffled a little, and Harry reached to wipe a stray tear from her cheek, shaking his head in mild disbelief.

"You have no idea."

* * *

Okay! So that's it for chapter 11…the next installment should be up in a week or so.

And for the updated scoreboard!

Gryffindor: 130

Ravenclaw: 35

Hufflepuff: 35

Slytherin: 20

And how this worked was those of you who specified points to be given to a specific house got them, if not, the remaining 40 pts were divided between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. But thanks to Maitlyn, Slytherin is now on the board! Yay!

Hmmm….no questions for this chapter, but there will be some up again for the next chapter! I think that we'll do a couple of general trivia questions instead:

What architect designed the glass pyramid that is part of the Louvre museum in Paris? What was his/her nationality

Which U.S. state does not subdivide into counties?

Which Roman emperor appointed his horse to the councel?

Have fun with those! Again, each is worth ten points and if you don't specify a house, I'll divide the points up somehow.

Until next time (sometime in the next week and a half, I promise)

Callista Rose


	12. Home Again

DISCLAIMER: you know the drill. I wish I did, but I don't, and I'm not claiming to. Don't sue me. Period.

Okay, I am endlessly sorry that I haven't been able to find the time to update…it's been a very long sequence of events, and I am sooooooooo sorry. I promised a week and a half, and it's been a year. I really suck at life.

Anyway, I fear that I've lost a good number of my readers because of the time delay. So that makes me sad, but it's really my own fault. I did make a promise that I would finish this fic, and I do not plan on breaking that promise.

So, after god knows how many months of neglect:

* * *

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 12

* * *

The curtains of Harry Potter's room in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries were yanked back quickly, flooding the room with rays of morning sunlight. They fell across the face of the man in the only occupied bed, who had until that moment been fast asleep. He rolled over in bed with a groan, his body still unwilling to wake up.

It had been one hell of a week, he thought as he lay there, immobile. Longer, really, but he didn't remember much prior to waking from his comatose state almost seven days before.

"It's strange," he had told Hermione Granger three days ago, as she and Ron Weasley sat at his bedside one afternoon. "One moment, I'm in a secluded location, a park in South America. And I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I guess I lost it then, because the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and saw my little girl for the first time." His eyes had begun to glisten at that point, and he hurriedly dried them. He didn't think Ron would think anything of it and he was sure that Hermione hadn't noticed at all, as tears were streaming down her cheeks.

James and Lily had stayed more or less at their father's bedside for two days after he had woken up. After much resisting, Hermione had convinced them in the end that the best thing for them would be to go back to Hogwarts and continue with their studies. The two children reluctantly agreed to leave the hospital and their father ("We've only just met him!"), though not without a good bit of protest both of them.

"Hey, don't worry," Harry had told them as he hugged them good-bye. "I'm not going anywhere. We'll see each other again soon, and I will definitely keep writing to you."

"Every week?" Lily asked, reluctantly pulling away from her father's comforting embrace. Harry gave a deep laugh.

"Of course, as long as you two can keep up with me." The twins grinned.

"No problem…I mean, school isn't _that_ hard," James said with a grin. "As it is, we may or may not have taken up the hobby of wandering the castle when we're bored…" Lily nudged him rather painfully with her elbow and gave him a pointed look. Harry grinned.

"Oh, trust me, I did a good bit of wandering myself while I was in school. Most of it, mind you, was with Ron and your mum. Looking back, we were definitely a bunch of mischief-makers. Got away with most of it too," he added with a smirk.

"No way!" James exclaimed.

"Any pointers?" Lily asked with a grin, keeping her voice lowered so that Hermione, who was lingering outside the door, waiting to take them back to school, wouldn't be able to hear.

"Well," Harry said, looking from one to the other, "if Peeves ever gives you any trouble, threaten to set the Bloody Baron on him. And if you ever feel in the mood for an éclair or afternoon tea, you can always go—"

"Down to the kitchens, yeah," James said eagerly, grinning at Lily. Harry glanced from one to the other, looking impressed.

"You've found the kitchens already?" He asked. James waved his hand carelessly in front of his face.

"What, like it's hard?"

"And we met a friend of yours," Lily said. Harry looked at her, interested.

"Who?"

"Dobby the house elf," she laughed. Harry's eyes lit up.

"Really? He still works there?" he asked. "How is he?"

"He seems well. He was absolutely thrilled to meet us," Lily said. "He about wet himself when we told him that Mum was still alive, and that the two of you are our parents." Harry's heart swelled. He loved the sound of that.

"Yeah, and he wouldn't stop offering us tea and sweets," James added, "it was actually kind of cool."

"Don't let your mother hear you say that," Harry laughed.

"Don't let your mother hear what?" Hermione asked as she poked her head into the room, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Well, you two had better be off to school, you don't want to fall behind in your studies." He said all of this very quickly. Their mother was not fooled, and that was evident from the scrutinizing look on her face, but she seemed to decide to let it go, because she simply said—

"Come along, you two, Professor McGonagall is expecting you back." She held out their knapsacks. James and Lily hugged their father, with promises that they'd see each other again soon, took their bags reluctantly out of Hermione's hands, and started off down the corridor. Harry and Hermione exchanged smiles.

"See you later, then?"

"Of course," Hermione said. "I'll come back as soon as I've delivered those two back to Hogwarts."

And so she had. Once James and Lily were safely back in Professor McGonagall's care, she had returned to Saint Mungo's and sat at Harry's bedside. They talked and exchanged stories, and Hermione felt the past eleven years spill out of her. She told Harry everything she hadn't been able to write in a letter. Harry was fascinated by every story, wanted to know every detail about the children he barely knew.

She had brought album after album of Muggle photographs back to the hospital, and through them he watched Lily and James grow up. There was Lily as a baby, red-faced and screaming in a tiny pink onesie, James crawling across the floor with a look of triumph in his eyes, the two of them on their first birthday, cake with blue icing covering their faces. There were photos of the twins with their mother at every birthday, their first day of school, a trip to the aquarium, every summer at the beach…

Harry turned the pages slowly, taking each photograph in and allowing Hermione to tell him a story that corresponded with every picture. There were a lot of pictures, he saw, of the twins playing soccer.

"Yes, they've always loved it. And I remember," she said with a laugh, "the year that they signed up, when they turned eight, and they couldn't be on the same team anymore, the leagues started the single-sex teams. They were devastated. But it was fun, because they practiced together a lot in our yard, taking turns shooting goals and being keeper."

"Are they any good?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Of course! After all," she said with a grin, "they are half yours." Harry beamed.

"What positions do they play? Have they ever flown? Maybe they could get onto their House team. Wait—" He stopped suddenly. "I never go the chance to ask what house they are in. They are in the same house, right? It would be a pity if they were separated…"

"Calm down, Harry. Yes, they are in the same house." Harry looked at her expectantly. Hermione pretended she didn't know what he was waiting to hear.

"What house?"

"Gryffindor, of course." Harry beamed.

"Brilliant! So what positions do they play? Football, I mean." It took Hermione a moment to realize what he meant when he said 'football.'

"Both of them are very versatile, but Lily is an excellent goalkeeper, she has your reflexes. James is so fast…he plays forward, usually. They love to play…I think that's the one thing that they'll miss the most about, you know, the Muggle world. Don't get your hopes up too high about them playing Quidditch, though," she said, correctly reading the look on Harry's face. "They haven't learned to fly yet, and I'm not sure how they will feel about that."

And then a minute passed in silence. An expression came over Hermione's face that Harry couldn't quite read. She folded her hands in her lap, staring out the window but not really seeing it, as her pupils slid out of focus. She seemed to be contemplating something, opening her mouth once, as if to say something, and then closing it hastily again.

"What's up, Hermione?" Her eyes didn't quite meet his emerald ones.

"We need to talk," she said simply, exhaling a deep breath. She looked at him with an emotion that he could not identify.

"About James and Lily, right?" Harry said, "because I am 100 prepared to take on whatever I need to so that I can be there for those kids, anything at all—" Hermione gave a soft, nervous laugh.

"I knew you were going to be noble about it. But—" Harry was shocked to see her brown eyes welling with tears in the afternoon sunlight. "I won't—I mean, I can't blame you…if you don't…it's too sudden—if you don't want to…"

"If I don't want to what?" Harry suddenly looked both shocked and slightly miffed.

"I mean to say…well, you didn't exactly choose this, having two children, and I would understand if you wanted—if you didn't want—to be a part of their lives." She said the last bit very quickly and dropped her gaze to her hands, which she had been wringing absentmindedly in her lap. A tear had escaped her eye and was running down her cheek. "I've worried about this, about how you would react, ever since I ran into Ginny that day in Diagon Alley, when I found out that you and Ron were alive.

"Well, I don't see why you were worried," Harry said simply. "Hermione, I have loved those kids since that very first letter, since Ginny told me about them." The thought of their faces burst into his mind and he grinned in spite of himself. "I may not have asked for it, but that doesn't mean that I'm not absolutely elated now."

Hermione had stopped breathing, but was unaware of it.

"So—" she began slowly, "you're saying—"

"That I would love nothing more than to be a part of those kids' lives," he finished. "I mean, I'm their father, but I want to be their dad. As long as it's okay with you," he added quickly, peering at her through his glasses, as if awaiting a decision. Hermione beamed.

"Of course! I mean—" she added matter-of-factly, "Now that James and Lily know that you are alive, that you are their father, there's really no point in trying to keep them from you. They tend to have your knack for disregarding rules that they find unnecessary." She rolled her eyes but smiled as Harry gave a guilty shrug and grinned sheepishly at her. She laughed.

"Yes, they did mention to me about doing a bit of wandering to find the kitchens, and there have been one or two nighttime strolls."

"Hey, they are your kids."

"But if I remember correctly, you were usually right beside me most of the time."

"Yeah, hissing in your ear to go back, or worrying about getting caught."

"But there nonetheless."

Harry and Hermione smiled at each other, one of those smiles that only years of close friendship can bring about.

As the days passed, Harry slowly got his strength back and his cuts and bruises began to heal. The time crept by at an agonizingly slow rate, even though Ron, Ginny and Hermione were usually there to keep him company. He'd had other visitors, too: Lupin and Tonks and the Weasleys, among others. Even Professor McGonagall stopped by briefly to wish him a speedy recovery.

And so, one week after he had first woken up, the Healers at St. Mungo's gave him a clean bill of health, with the order to stay at home and not undertake any stressful activity for at least a month.

But Harry suddenly found that he didn't want to go back to his home. After all, he was the only one who lived there. He knew that he would be perfectly welcome with Hermione, Ron or the Weasleys. But at the moment, he had a powerful desire to be with his children. As Ron pointed out, however, this was quite impossible.

"Harry, it was quite enough of a wrench for Hermione to take James and Lily out of school even when we all thought you'd been—" he trailed off.

"Done in?"

"More or less, yeah," he continued. "Anyway, relax for a moment. You aren't going on a mission for a few weeks, why don't you take some time out? Go back to your house, or visit my parents, or better yet, catch up with Hermione. Who knows? You may be able to get a Saturday with the twins out of it." He punched Harry in the shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, Ron," he said as he tied his trainer and tucked his wand into the Muggle clothes he was wearing. "I do need to talk to Hermione…I-I still can't believe that she's back, you know?"

"Yeah, I do," Ron nodded in understanding. "Me, too."

"So you got to see your dad? Wicked!"

Lily, James, and Sirius had pulled their desks close to each other during Transfiguration the next day, where they were attempting to transform cotton balls into clothespins. Professor McGonagall sat at her desk, busy with paperwork, so as long as they weren't being reckless they didn't have to worry too much about being told off for the rest of the class period. This gave the twins the opportunity to catch their friend up on their whereabouts during the past week.

"We got to _meet _him. For the first time ever!" James said happily, readjusting his cotton ball on the desk and flicking his wand (10½ inches, oak and phoenix feather) at it carelessly. It promptly caught fire, which he quickly put out with a spurt of water from his wand.

"Wow…what's he like?"

"He's a lot like us," Lily shrugged. She set her face in concentration, muttered the incantation and flicked her wand at her cotton ball, which quivered and turned over on the desk. "He's really funny, got a great sense of humor."

"And he's trying to get us to find a few secret passageways, you know, make a little trouble while we're here." Sirius beamed.

"Wicked," he said again. "Did he tell you anything interesting? Give you any tips?"

"No," James shook his head in disappointment.

"I reckon he would have," Lily said, still trying to concentrate on her transfiguration project, "if Mum hadn't been standing in the doorway."

"Why don't we—hey, way to go!" James halted his wand momentarily in midair, looking at the perfectly hinged clothespin now sitting on Lily's desk, which Sirius promptly nicked and fastened to his nose.

"Hey!" Lily cried indignantly as James and Sirius laughed. "Make your own!"

"Fine then," James said as he and Sirius redoubled their efforts. Lily snatched her clothespin off of Sirius' nose, and by the time she had returned with a handful of cotton balls, both boys had a clothespin fixed on one ear. Lily laughed and reaffixed her own to her left ear, distributing the cotton balls among the three of them.

"Ok, ready?" Sirius grinned, moving one to the center of his desk. "Get set….GO!"

And they were off in a race to the finish…or, at least, to see who could produce the most clothespins. The more they practiced the spell, the quicker they were getting, and the nicer the clothespins became. By the time the cotton balls had disappeared from their desks (Lily had finished first), the three of them had dissolved into fits of laughter.

"May I inquire, please, what is going on here?" They turned and saw Professor McGonagall leering over them. Lily hastily tugged about six clothespins off of her nose and ears, nearly throwing them down onto her desk. Sirius followed suit, but James merely smiled, his face looking strangely disfigured with the clothespins he had attached to his nose and eyebrows.

"We're practicing our transfiguration, Professor," he said, grinning through the clothespins. Professor McGonagall looked at the three of them for a moment, then unexpectedly reached out and plucked a pin off of James' face ("Ouch!"), examining it.

"Very well," she sighed, replacing the clothespin on James' desk. "Carry on, but please do not raise so much of a ruckus. You're disrupting the rest of the class." And she turned on her heel and left.

"Oh, boo, it was just a bit of fun," Lily said, looking disappointed.

"Well," Sirius said, looking around the room, "she has got a point." And indeed, they were getting stares from a lot of the Hufflepuffs with whom they had Transfiguration, many of whom had still failed to make a difference to their cotton balls.

"It's only a few minutes until the bell, anyway," James pointed out. Lily nodded, and ceased to try to produce any more clothespins ("They're useless, anyway").

"And, the day only gets better, eh?" Sirius said, prodding Lily with his elbow and raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, right!" she said happily, grinning.

"Erm, what's going on this afternoon? I mean, I know that you guys like food, but lunch isn't really going to be that exciting."

"Duh!" Lily exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "Flying lessons!"

"Oh," James said, grinning. "How could I have forgotten that? Who are we learning with? Aren't we with Ravenclaw?" Sirius shook his head.

"I wish," he said, giving a hollow laugh. They rounded a corner to the portrait hole. "Slytherin. They changed it yesterday…I have no idea why."

"Corazon espinado," James said to the Fat Lady, who promptly swung open to admit them. They ditched their book bags in each respective dormitory and recollected themselves for lunch back in the Great Hall. The ceiling showed a cloudy grey sky, but it didn't look as if it was going to rain. They sat down and James stood to take a handful of chips and a half-moon pie as Lily and Sirius poured goblets of pumpkin juice for themselves.

Lunchtime was going rather cheerfully until two unexpected visitors turned up at the table: Eve and Daniel. Lily and James exchanged glances.

"Mind if we…er…sit here?" Daniel asked apprehensively. Lily nodded.

"Go for it," she said pleasantly. Eve and Daniel took seats opposite Sirius and Lily, beside James on the other side of the long table. Eve accepted the jug of juice from Sirius and poured goblets for herself and her cousin.

"Er, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for being such a…such a…" Daniel began.

"Cow?" Eve offered. Daniel hung his head.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," he finished, giving a look to Eve that said quite clearly 'are we done here?'

"Can I ask why?" Lily said kindly. Daniel shrugged.

"I dunno…I guess I was just upset about my dad being gone, and having to start school…I barely get to see him at all as it is…" his voice trailed off and he quickly took a very large forkful of boiled potato and shoved it into his mouth to fill the silence that followed.

"It's alright," James said. "We know how that goes…we only just met our father."

"Yeah, you probably know him way better than we do." Lily sprinkled salt on her potatoes and began to cut them into smaller pieces. "But I can't imagine, before we knew he wasn't dead, I mean, I can't imagine it just being the two of us and our mum, and her being gone most of the time. That must have been difficult."

"Yeah, well," Daniel shrugged. "At least I have a huge family to be with while he's away. I'm sorry…I guess I was being selfish when you two and your mother came 'round for dinner that night."

"It's alright," Lily said kindly. "Apology accepted." And the three of them shook hands, calling a truce.

It was nice to sit there, finally having the burden of Eve and Daniel's coldness toward them lifted. They sat and talked and learned a lot, about how Eve and Daniel had practically grown up together, how Daniel was constantly passed from relative to relative while Ron was away, and how much the search for Hermione, even years later, had affected him.

James and Lily found out quite a lot about Harry as well. They learned that he had a snowy owl called Hedwig that had been with him since his first year at Hogwarts, and that he also took care of a phoenix that had once belonged to Professor Dumbledore, who had been headmaster when their parents had gone to school. His family knew Sirius because all of their parents had been a part of something called the Order of the Phoenix.

"Oh yeah, our mum told us about that!" James said. "We've got some kind of old photo from when she and Harry and Ron were members." Eve nodded.

"Yes, my mum has one too, and that's where I recognized your mum from. My dad wasn't in it, as he's a Muggle, but both of Dan's parents, and Sirius' folks, and all of my uncles and grandparents were as well."

"What about your family, Watson?" came a cold sneer from behind Lily. She turned in her seat to face him, narrowing her eyes at Malfoy and his cronies. "Because we were just talking about your muggle father and blood-traitor of a mother." Eve's cheeks went scarlet, but she kept her eyes on Malfoy. "Oh, and I almost forgot about the Weasel," he continued in a loud voice, speaking over Sirius. "Your mother was a bit of a loon, wasn't she? Well, it looks as if that trait has been passed on…"

"Not like Wolfboy here's much better," he drawled on, "I mean, your mother had a shot at being a decent witch once, but no, she had to turn it down for a riffraff half-breed—" Sirius made an angry move towards Malfoy, but Lily and James held him back.

"Watch your mouth," he spat angrily. "Now you're talking about a teacher, and the lovely folks up at the High Table wouldn't like that too much. Besides, at least my mother doesn't look like a pug with a bad haircut."

"Shove off, Malfoy," Lily said coolly. "As if you can talk about riffraff…at least our fathers and grandfathers aren't scum enough to be in Azkaban. It's only a matter of time before you're carted off as well." His cheeks turned pink and Rookwood and Nott scowled, cracking their knuckles threateningly.

"I don't remember asking your opinion," Malfoy sneered. "At least _my_ mother's not a filthy, cowardly, good-for-nothing mudblood who bears a striking resemblance to—"

But what Hermione resembled, they never found out. Because as James clenched his teeth and fists and made an angry move to get at Malfoy (though he failed because Eve grabbed his arm and held him back), Lily had whipped out her wand, pointing it angrily at Malfoy's stomach.

"Eat slugs, Malfoy!" she said angrily, muttering a few well-chosen words. A jet of green light hit him square in the stomach and he reeled back onto the floor of the Great Hall. Everybody stared in spite of themselves, Lily stowing her wand back in her robes.. Rookwood and Nott looked as if they weren't sure whether to try to help or get as far away from Lily as possible, but they seemed frozen as Malfoy, looking like he was going to be sick, gave a great belch, holding his hand over his mouth. A few people laughed, and he brought his hand away in disbelief, holding three large, slimy slugs in it. Malfoy's muffled cries were causing a few people from the nearby Hufflepuff table to stare.

Most unluckily, Professor Lupin had chosen that precise moment, as Lily was tucking her wand away, to enter the Great Hall. He approached the table quickly, his robes billowing out behind him, looking with a keen eye from Malfoy to Lily, who spotted him and tried to arrange her face from a look of satisfaction to one of what she hoped was innocent curiosity. Malfoy gave another great belch, another two slugs trickling into his lap.

"Mr. Malfoy," he said calmly. "Please report to Madam Pomfrey and have her make sure that the after-effects of Miss Granger's curse are cleared out of your system. Nott and Rookwood, kindly assist him. Miss Granger," Lupin said, rounding on Lily, "I'm disappointed in your actions. You will serve a double detention, and I am going to take ten points from Gryffindor for your assault on a fellow student. Yes, Mr. Lupin, from my own House. Be thankful it isn't more," he added as both James and Sirius opened their mouths in protest.

"That," Sirius said after Professor Lupin had taken his place at the High Table, "was brilliant."

"And you shouldn't have done it!" James said, "What's Mum going to say?"

"I don't care," Lily said bitterly, helping herself to a chicken leg. "He deserved it, and that's worth a double detention to me."

It seemed as though something about Lily's cursing Malfoy had at least gotten him to shut his mouth for a little while, because he was definitely more subdued than usual during their first flying lesson that afternoon. Madam Pomfrey couldn't cure his slug problem, much to Lily's delight, and instead had given him a pail to tote to his lessons in case he had another belching fit. Learning to fly turned out to be a wonderful diversion for Lily, who was beginning to feel a nagging of guilt at her stomach for what she'd done.

At the instructor's whistle, the students all kicked off without incident, flew a few feet above the ground, and landed twenty feet from where they'd started—Sirius toppled off of his broom when he landed. Madam Pommedur was a very short, thin witch with very short, violet hair and piercing, inky black eyes. After teaching them a few of the basics, she allowed them all a bit of time to become acquainted with flying on their own. James shot Lily a mischievous glance.

"Race you to that tree and back," he muttered under his breath. Lily gauged the distance and gripped her broom.

"You're on." They mounted their brooms and aligned their toes. And a moment later, James was kicking off, racing his sister to the apple tree a hundred and fifty feet in front of them. Lily was gaining speed, but James leaned forward, egging the broom on. They zoomed past the tree, making the leaves rustle. Both were laughing, and neither really knew who won the race. But it didn't seem to matter. Lily readjusted her glasses to be sure that they wouldn't fall off. James swooped down to the apple tree and snatched a green piece of fruit from it.

"Lily," he called to his sister, "catch!" He tossed the apple to her and she caught it easily. She tossed it back, and he returned the throw, sending the fruit straight toward the ground. Lily went into a shallow dive and her fingers closed around the apple. Leveling herself with James, she grinned.

"Try this one!" she challenged, chucking the apple as hard as she could straight up into the air. In a swift motion, James shot ten, twenty feet into the air, arm outstretched. But as he went higher, his broomstick started to vibrate dangerously. The apple fell to the ground with a splat, but neither noticed it, because the vibrating broom had all but shaken James off of it. He was hanging off of it, dangling in midair a good thirty feet from the ground.

"James!" Lily screamed. She shot her broomstick toward her twin as fast as she could, helping him back onto his broom.

"I reckon that's enough for now," James said. Lily nodded, both pale from the incident. They lowered themselves to the ground, where they were met by a stern look from Madam Pommedur.

"Professor, the broomstick, I think it's cursed," James said, holding out the old Cleansweep for her to see.

"Not cursed, Mr. Granger, the broomsticks are enchanted to not allow such a high altitude in beginning students. I have, however, never seen a broom shake so violently. I will check this one out." She looked around at the class, which was scattered between sky and ground. One shrill scream of her whistle and they had all returned to the ground, dismissed for the day.

"That was wonderful!" Lily said excitedly. "Except for that part where you almost died," she added quickly, peering over at James.

"I think I prefer the ground," Sirius said, looking slightly ashen-faced from the experience. "Anyway, it's too bad you two were busy racing, you completely missed Malfoy…he actually fell off of his broom while he was showing off midair!" James looked around at Malfoy, who was muttering something under his breath and looking sour, still toting a small cauldron that was three-quarters full of slimy, writhing slugs. He laughed suddenly.

"What?" his twin asked as they came into the entrance hall and began to ascend the marble staircase toward Gryffindor tower.

"I wish I could see the look on Mum's face when she hears about this." Lily bit her lip.

"Yeah, about that…maybe we should not tell her about my, er—"

"Anger management issue? Not a chance," Sirius laughed, "Remember, my dad is the one who gave you that double detention. I guarantee that she's already been sent an owl." Lily groaned.

But, of course, Sirius had been right. This was confirmed with the delivery of a bright red envelope to Lily the next morning. Lily untied the letter from Isis's outstretched leg and gave her a bit of bacon before she flew off to the Owlery again. James peered over at the envelope.

"Who's that from?"

"It's from our mother," Lily said apprehensively. "But I don't get the red."

"You will soon," Eve said quietly. "That's a Howler." She, Daniel, and Sirius were looking at the envelope as though it was about to explode.

"Go ahead, get it over with," Sirius moaned, jamming his fingers into his ears. Lily slit open the envelope.

"LILY ANNE GRANGER, WHAT ON EARTH WAS RUNNING THROUGH YOUR HEAD?" boomed Hermione's voice shrilly, the volume magnified so that a bit of dust shook loose from the great, enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall. "…COULD HAVE GOTTEN THAT POOR BOY KILLED...COULD HAVE BEEN EXPELLED AND IT'S ONLY YOUR SIXTH WEEK! ONE MORE STUNT LIKE THIS AND IT'S STRAIGHT BACK TO THE MUGGLE WORLD!"

The hall fell silent, a few people laughed. Lily's ears were still buzzing from the sheer volume of her mother's angry shouts. It was the first time in a while that she had heard her mother shout, and she felt a few angry tears threatening to spring to her eyes.

"Oh, cheer up, Lils," James said, prodding her gently with his finger. "Once she hears the whole story, I'm sure she'll be much more sympathetic. Go on, eat something and you'll feel better."

Hermione Granger wasn't entirely surprised to see Isis, Lily's owl, flutter into Ginny's kitchen window carrying a piece of parchment. Ron, Ginny, and Harry looked curiously at the owl as Hermione rose to retrieve Lily's letter. The four of them had been in the middle of a lunch at Ginny's place, giving them all some much-needed catch up time with each other.

"Nice owl…yours?" Harry asked. Hermione shook her head, carrying the parchment back to the table and sat with the other three.

"No, it's Lily's. She's just written back in response to something I sent this morning…" her voice trailed off as she skimmed the letter. Her face fell. "Oh, no!" she moaned, handing the letter to Ginny for a closer look. "I'm a horrid mother," she cried, burying her face in her hands. Ron and Harry leaned forward to see the letter Ginny now clutched in her hands, and read:

_Mother,_

_The reason why I cursed Abraxan Malfoy is that he was making nasty comments about everyone…he called Ginny a blood traitor, Sirius Lupin "Wolfboy," and he said that you were a filthy, cowardly Mudblood. At which point I almost stuck my wand up his nose, but cursed him instead._

_I am sorry that I got caught. But it was worth the double detention._

_Love always,_

_Lily_

"Hermione, what happened?"

"Exactly what it says," Hermione began, taking a sip of her tea. "Lily cursed that boy during lunch yesterday, Remus spotted her and gave her double detention…he wrote to me right after it happened to tell me."

"Sounds like he deserved it, the little slimeball," Ginny muttered.

"Which curse?" Harry asked, trying not to sound too interested.

"The same one that made Ron belch slugs in our second year." Ron winced sympathetically midway through a bite of steak and kidney pie.

Just moments later, Ramses, James' owl, came to the window, also with a scrap of parchment. After his leg was relieved of the burden, he ruffled his plumage and went to perch beside Isis. The note that he carried was much shorter than the one Lily had written:

_Dear Mother,_

_The red, exploding thing that you sent Lily this morning made her cry. She had a good reason for what she did. I would have jumped on the evil git, but she got there first._

_James_

Ginny, Ron and Harry all laughed at the bluntness of the statement, but Hermione was looking utterly shocked and depressed.

"Well, that seals it," Hermione said. "I'm a horrid person!" she exclaimed.

"You sent her a Howler?" Ron said incredulously.

"Yes," she said miserably. "I shouldn't have…"

"But you didn't know," Ginny said soothingly, patting her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Lily will be fine." Hermione nodded.

"It's ok…it's like all of the other kids. They are learning, growing, toeing lines, and if they land in detention once or twice, it's not that big of a deal," Harry said, taking a swig of tea.

"Yeah, come to think of it, we did quite a lot of that while we were at Hogwarts," Ron put in. The four of them grinned.

"I hope that our lovely little offspring are having as much fun as we did," Ginny said.

"Cheers!" said Harry and Ron as the four of them continued to eat and chatter, with the Three Knarls struck up a rock ballad on the radio.

* * *

Yeah…sorry again about the length of time for the update. I hope to have the next chapter up by the end of August…I am writing the story in a notebook, as I won't have access to a computer until August 13. But there are ideas, so that's a start!

I apologize again to all of my once-reviewers…

Until next time,

Callista Rose


End file.
